The House of Hades
by pipermclean-beautyqueen
Summary: Percy and Annabeth are trapped in Tartarus. Nico must lead the five remaining demigods to Greece. Camp Half-Blood is under attack. Things aren't looking good for the demigods, but they'll do what they can to succeed. What will happen? My version on the fourth book in the Heroes of Olympus series.
1. Chapter 1

**Yeah, this is in first person. I know the series is actually in third person, I just prefer first person. Also, I'm trying to improve my writing... so please don't just give flattery, give me criticism! But tell me what you don't like about my writing if you do, so I can try to improve. Thanks! **

**Since I've seen people do this... ****Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan. I don't own Percy Jackson. I'm not really sure why I'm doing this, since that's sort of obvious, but since so many people do this, I guess I should**

**And to all my Canadian readers, HAPPY THANKSGIVING :) I'm thankful for my parents for taking care of me all these years. I'm thankful for my sister, who risked everything for me to have a happier life than hers. I'm thankful for my friends, who've stuck with me through everything. I'm thankful for music, for school, for all the sports I enjoy playing. I'm thankful to be a Canadian. And I'm thankful for everyone that reads this :)**

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Percy's POV

I stood up warily and looked around. I was in a small room similar to a cave. A backpack and a dagger lay at my feet, both of which I picked up. There was light, but the faint blue glow coming from a tunnel to my right was anything but bright. Sharp and jagged rocks protruded from the ground, towering over me. Over by one of them, on the other side of the room, lay the limp and bloody form of a girl with blonde curls.

_Oh gods, Annabeth…_ I sprinted over to her and knelt down. Her splint must have come undone because it was nowhere to be seen. She had hit her head hard when she fell and a deep cut was oozing blood on her arm. Cuts and scratches covered her all over, and her ankle was swollen and purple. I stroked her pale face with my hand. She was cold. _Ice cold_.

"Annabeth!" I shouted, shaking her body frantically, as the possibility that the fall had taken her life overwhelmed me. _She had to be alive, she had to be!_ I choked back a sob, as a tear streaked down my face. How could the gods be this cruel? We saved Olympus, then Hera split us apart for half a year. And when we had finally gotten reunited, _this_ happens.

As I sat there, trembling, I thought about what had happened when we fell. No, I couldn't blame the gods. This was my fault. Right before we hit the bottom, Annabeth had shoved me above her. She had sacrificed herself to cushion my fall.

I held her face in my hands. "Please Wise Girl, please…" I whispered. "I can't lose you again…"

It didn't seem fair that Annabeth was hurt and possibly dead and I only had a few cuts and scratches. Tears continued streaming down my face, but I barely noticed. I kept shaking her, begging her to wake up.

I was praying to every god I could think of, even Ares, when a soft groan escaped her lips. "Annabeth?" I shot up and sat on my knees, hovering over her. I held my breath. _Had I just imagined it?_

Her eyes fluttered open. "ANNABETH!" I shouted joyfully, crushing her with a hug.

Moaning, she asked, "What happened? Calm down, I-"

I interrupted her by crashing my lips against hers. I've missed doing this the six months we'd been apart. Even though we've been reunited, I had never gotten many chances to kiss her like this. I just haven't noticed how much I had missed this until now.

There was a Greek myth Annabeth had once told me. Originally, humans were created half man and half woman. They had double everything, four arms, four legs, two heads, and so on. Zeus, fearing their power, cut them in half, creating humans as we are now. The two halves were soulmates; they made each other complete. And now, kissing my soulmate, I felt complete.

At first, Annabeth was shocked and was still. But it didn't take her long to kiss back. She wrapped her arms around my neck, stroking her fingers through my hair. She pulled me even closer, though I had no idea how that was possible considering how close we already were.

We lay there, silent, for a while. Suddenly, I remembered the backpack and dagger I had found. I passed them to her and Annabeth began rummaging through her backpack.

Finally, she took out six ambrosia squares. Handing three of them to me, she said, "Keep this. Just in case there's an emergency. Who knows what we'll run into down here?"

I was about to put them in my pocket when I looked down and saw her broken ankle, which Annabeth was trying to hide from me using her backpack. "Here," I said, passing her some of my ambrosia. "I think that ankle counts as an emergency."

Annabeth shook her head. "I'm fine, save your ambrosia for when _you_ get hurt."

"No, come on. Eat it." I held an ambrosia cube in front of her mouth. She crossed her arms in front of her stubbornly. I kept holding the ambrosia cube in front of her, just as stubbornly.

"Percy, it's not a smart idea to waste our ambrosia now, when we have a whole journey ahead of us. We'll probably face injuries way worse than a broken ankle!"

I racked my brain trying to come up with something to say back to her. "Well… it's not a smart idea to be travelling with a broken ankle! How are we supposed to travel when you can't walk?"

She glared at me. "I can walk perfectly fine." I motioned to her to go ahead and show me.

Gripping onto a rock for support, she pushed herself up. Her face was even paler than before from exhaustion, but she smiled smugly. "See? I can stand."

"Go ahead and walk," I said. I silently prayed she would just take the ambrosia instead of trying to walk and hurting herself. Of course, Annabeth, being Annabeth, decided to prove herself.

Her face scrunched up in concentration, she took a step. Then, letting out a cry of pain, she crumbled to the ground.

"Annabeth!" I scurried over to her. I put her face on my lap and said, "Please, just take the ambrosia. For me?"

She sighed and swallowed the ambrosia I held out for her. Her cuts and scratches slowly began disappearing.

"We should get going," she said. "Who knows what monsters will be down here?"

I stood up, knowing she was right. Annabeth put everything in her backpack and was about to stand up when I realized, even though the ambrosia speeds up the healing process, her ankle was still swollen, and most likely still broken.

"Fine, let's get going." Then, smirking, I picked her up bridal style, picking up her backpack and dagger as well.

"Percy!" she shrieked, squirming. "Put me down!"

I laughed, but it was cut off by a growl. Both of us froze. I'm not sure what made my legs start moving, but eventually I felt my lungs burning from running.

Panting, I stopped. I slumped against a rock wall, gently putting Annabeth down beside me.

Once my breathing returned to its normal race, I turned to look at Annabeth. I was about to say something to her, just to break this silence, but she beat me to it.

"Why did you carry me? I only slowed you down. You could have gotten caught and it would have been all my fault! And why did you follow me to Tartarus? We could die down here! Why, Seaweed Brain?"

"I couldn't lose you again," I said simply.

Her angry expression softened, but she didn't say anything in response. A single tear rolled down her cheek, which she wiped away hastily. I didn't say anything about it, knowing she would kill me if I did.

Eventually, she looked up at me. There were tears in her grey eyes. The eyes that normally held so much strength and radiate power. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice faltering.

I smiled at her, and wiped the tears that had spilt from her eyes. _Her beautiful grey eyes_.

And, with Annabeth leaning against me, we both fell asleep.

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**REVIEW PLEASE~**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I decided to post a second chapter... **

**Anyways, this chapter was inspired from something I've been doing since I was seven. Every year, I hang lanterns around my house in the memory of my sister. While I was reading the Mark of Athena (before I had fanfiction), I imagined the other demigods doing this for Percy and Annabeth.**

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Hazel's POV

The Argo II was filled with an eerie silence which was occasionally broken by a choked sob.

Piper had locked herself in her room and Jason was slumped against her door, waiting for her to come out. After banging on her door for hours, he figured all he could do now was wait. Leo was pacing the deck, muttering to himself, "My fault, all my fault. Stupid cookie. My fault…" Coach Hedge had been ranting about how he could have saved Percy and Annabeth, but now he was sitting silently, mindlessly waving his baseball bat and staring into space. Nico was nowhere to be seen.

I left them alone and checked the lounge. I was tired of hiding in my room and was searching for Frank. I saw him hunched up in the corner and slowly walked up to him.

"Hey," I said softly. "You okay? I-" I cut myself off when I saw what Frank was doing.

Surrounding Frank were scraps of paper. In his hands, he held pink kiddie scissors and a piece of paper he was shredding up. Frank looked up and saw my confused expression.

"They're lanterns. Chinese paper lanterns. I just thought, well…" Frank's voice trailed off as he became lost in thought.

I nudged him. "Continue."

Blushing, he said, "After my mother died, my grandmother hung lanterns outside our house."

"But Percy and Annabeth aren't dead! Frank-"

"That's not what I mean," Frank interrupted. "My mother died in war. My grandmother told me when someone dies because of violence, their spirit lingers. They can't make it to the afterworld because their spirit is lost. And Percy and Annabeth are lost…" Blushing, Frank added, "I know it's a weird idea."

I smiled. "I think it's a wonderful idea."

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Piper's POV

I heard a knock at my door. And then another. And another. With a sigh, I opened the door to find Jason slumped against the wall. When he saw me, his eyes widened and he jumped up.

"Piper…" he murmured as he ran up to give me a hug. I led him into my room and we sat down on my bed.

Tears immediately began running down my face. Jason saw, and whispered, "Piper, they'll be okay. You know how strong Annabeth is, and Percy's the most powerful demigod I know. Other than me, of course," he quickly added.

Brushing my tears from my cheeks, I looked up to meet him in his eyes. "Have you thought about how easily it could have been us? It could have been _me_ that was dragged into Tartarus, and it could have been _you_ that followed me down. Have you thought about that Jason?"

"But it wasn't us, Piper. It was Percy and Annabeth."

I curled up against him. As guilty as this makes me feel, I couldn't help but be relieved it wasn't us. Nevertheless, Annabeth was one of my closest friends and neither she nor Percy deserved this.

"What if they don't make it," I whispered, saying one of my biggest fears out loud. Somehow, it made everything seem more real.

"They'll have each other. And we have to do our own part in this quest. Look Piper, we all miss them. I wish none of this had happened. We'll rescue them, I promise we will."

I shuddered. _An oath to keep with a final breath_. I wished Jason would take back that promise. It was dangerous to be making promises now.

We both jumped when someone knocked on the door. I opened the door to find Hazel. She held out two glowing lanterns and passed one to me and the other to Jason.

"We're stopping in Lecce, Italy. Leo needs to repair some parts of the ship."

"What are these for?" Jason asked Hazel, holding up his lantern.

Hazel smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. "Frank will explain."

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Frank's POV

I paced the deck nervously as the other demigods gathered around me. Even Coach Hedge was there, lantern in one hand and his baseball bat in the other.

"Uh, hey guys. So you're probably wondering what these lanterns are for…"

"Get on with it Zhang," Coach Hedge grumbled.

"Right. So, my grandmother told me lanterns can guide lost spirits. I thought it would help us, you know, with what happened to Percy and Annabeth and everything…" I trailed off awkwardly.

Everyone kept their eyes on me, expecting me to continue. No one spoke. I tried to continue, but I felt tears threatening to spill. I bit my lips and stayed silent.

_"Tsu na li i, i tsu la gal u tsv"_

A single voice rang out above the silence.

_"Tla o da nv te di s gi, i tsu la gal u tsv_

_Du ni yv a s da ya, ni hi wi li ni ga na ye gv na,_

_Tsu na li i, i tsu la gal u tsv"_

Everyone turned to hear Piper sing. It was a low eerie tune drenched with sorrow. Her mournful lament brought even Nico to tears.

Piper's face was pale and expressionless, except her eyes. Rimmed with red, they were a kaleidoscope of emotions: pain, grief, loneliness. She took a breath and continued, this time in Greek.

_"Οι φίλοι μου, είμαστε ερχόμενος_

_Μην ανησυχείτε, είμαστε ερχόμενος_

_Διατηρώ σφιχτός, θα είναι εντάξει,_

_Οι φίλοι μου, είμαστε ερχόμενος"_

She sung this to the same haunting melody as before. Blushing, she said, "It's a Cherokee song."

Soon, the ship was filled with the voices of the demigods and satyr, singing the eerie tune. The ship landed in Lecce glowing with lanterns.

_~My friends, we are coming. _

_Do not worry, we are coming._

_Hold tight, you'll be alright,_

_My friends, we are coming.~_

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**Dedicated to my sister, Rachelyn. RIP**

**Anyways... review? **


	3. Chapter 3

**17 REVIEWS ALREADY! I seriously didn't even expect to get one. Thanks to everyone that read my story and reviewed :) **

**Sorry for the extremely short chapter... Not that exciting either, but I promise the next chapter will be better**

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Annabeth's POV

My body ached all over. I groaned and sat up groggily. Well _tried_ to, at least. Because I was already sitting up and I couldn't move.

My eyes shot open. Chains tied me to one of the many rock pillars scattered across Tartarus. They wrapped around me so tightly my wrists and legs were bruised. I was trapped. Bursting with panic, I was filled with the sudden urge to thrash wildly at the chains. I felt myself shaking with fear.

_Calm, Annabeth. Calm_, I told myself. Attacking the chains won't get me anywhere.

_What had happened?_ I was hit by a sudden wave of yesterday's events. The Mark of Athena. The fall to Tartarus. My broken ankle. Percy.

_Percy! Where was he?_I quickly scanned the small and cold chamber I was trapped in. I was on my own. A cold feeling washed over my body.

"Percy? Percy? Are you here?" My voice started off hoarse and hesitant, but when I heard no answer from Percy, I started screaming. "Percy! Seaweed Brain! Come on, just say something!" My frantic cries were of no use. The chamber remained silent except the echoes of my hopeless cries. I slumped back against the rock I was chained to in frustration. _Oh great, just when I finally get Percy back, I lose him again._

How could I have been so careless? After all the quests I've been on, I should know the dangers of not having someone stay awake while the other sleeps. I was lucky I wasn't dead. I should have taken first watch, after what Percy had done for me. Instead, I was the first to fall asleep.

I shook this thought out of my head. I could think about this another time. How would sulking and moping help me escape and find Percy? It wasn't the wisest thing to be doing, and a daughter of the goddess of wisdom _should_ be wise. So I did something that a daughter of Athena should be doing. Something I was good at. I started planning my escape.

Taking a thorough look at my prison, I took count of all the ways out of here. The only way out was a massive tunnel. A faint blue light shone from the tunnel, which was the only source of light in the room. The only problem was I was stuck on the other side of the room unable to even stand.

I lifted my chains so I could see them better in the dim light. I tried pulling at them to test its strength. Just as I had thought, the chains were new and strong. There was no way to break through them.

Not letting this discourage me, I kept thinking. Well, _someone_ must have trapped me here. And that _someone_ _should_ come back eventually, right?

I looked around for a faint bronze glow, but the only glow I saw was the light coming from the tunnel. My dagger wasn't here. Fighting wasn't an option.

_But trickery doesn't require a dagger._ I pondered on that thought. I've fooled even Arachne herself, one of the worst and most frightening monsters for a child of Athena. Whoever trapped me here couldn't be half as bad as her.

I was about to plot my scheme, when I realized. Certain monsters would only fall for certain tricks. I knew I had only managed to fool Arachne because of her pride. To trick my kidnapper, I'd have to wait to see who the monster is.

I wasn't sure if Athena could hear me from down in Tartarus, but I was desperate for anything that could help. I tried praying to her. There was nothing wrong with trying. _Athena, please help me... Help me fool me kidnapper like I did to Arachne. Please guide me, mother..._

All I had to do was wait for my kidnapper to come. And that didn't take all that long.

Lost in thought and busy fiddling with the chains, I didn't realize I was no longer alone, until a bony hand grabbed my shoulder. I heard the cold voice in my ear. _Cold, and so mysteriously familiar…_

"You have such beautiful grey eyes, my child."

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**I'm pretty sure everyone knows who Annabeth's kidnapper is... I know, not that creative, but I haven't seen any House of Hades fanfics with this particular monster yet**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey! Thank you so much to everyone that reviewed! Now, ON WITH THE STORY!**

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Annabeth's POV

Her gnarled and wrinkled hands kept a tight grip on my arms. She hadn't bothered to cut my chains off very well, so they dragged behind me, catching on the uneven rocky ground. I had to sprint to keep up with her long strides. I was surrounded by the sound of hissing snakes.

When I had stood up, my ankle had felt like it was on fire. Being dragged across Tartarus wasn't helping much either. The pain got worse with each passing second. I bit my lip so hard that blood was trickling down my chin, and I felt tears form at the corner of my eyes. I quickly brushed the tears away with my arm._If only I had some ambrosia..._

That's it! Ambrosia! I fingered the three pieces I had in my pocket. Quickly stuffing one in my mouth, I continued getting dragged through Tartarus. It was a little bit more endurable now though. The

I kept my eyes clamped shut, resulting in a lot of stumbling and tripping. Any ideas I had of trickery had vanished and was replaced by fear.

I knew who she was. "You have such beautiful grey eyes, my child." She had said the same thing to her when she was twelve and was on her first quest with Percy and Grover, at Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium.

_She was Medusa._

"Hurry up, child. We don't want to keep your boyfriend waiting, don't we?" Medusa snarled. Her sharp claws grasped onto me tighter than ever, probably cutting off all circulation in my right arm.

I remembered meeting Medusa for my first time. I had Percy with me back then. Medusa would purr and croon to him. Now, she talked to me like she wanted to kill me right then and there, but was holding back. I understood her wanting to kill me, I was the daughter of the one who cursed her. Her holding back was what I didn't understand. It was almost as if she had something more horrible planned for me.

Medusa shoved me, causing me to fall. "We're here," she said. "Now, don't you want to open your eyes to see your boyfriend?"

I was suddenly overwhelmed to see Percy, to be in his arms again, to have him tell me that everything will be alright and that we'll never lose each other again.

But I shook my head, resisting the urge to open my eyes. I braced myself for Medusa's attack, my fists clenched. I was prepared to attack her with as many kicks and punches as I could possibly land on her. They wouldn't do as much damage as my dagger would have, but I wanted Medusa to at least feel _some_ pain before I go down.

It never happened. Medusa sighed and said, "I'll get you to open your eyes eventually..." I heard a clanging sound, followed by footsteps. They got quieter and quieter, until I couldn't hear them anymore.

I risked taking a small peak. I was in a metal cage. My heart sank as I realized what had happened.

When Medusa shoved me, I must have fallen into the cage. The loud clanging sound was the sound of her closing the door of my new prison.

I gripped at the metal bars, trying to find a weak point that I could break. I had to escape and find Percy. After only a few seconds of rattling, I heard the voice I had been longing to hear.

"Annabeth?" I heard someone say. "Wise Girl?"

I spun around, trying to find where that voice had come from. And then I screamed.

Overcome by shock, I backed up as far as I could from the source of the voice. For when I turned around, expecting to see the sea green eyes I had come to love, I saw only one big brown eye.

A Cyclops's ability to mimic voices had always freaked me out. This time was no exception. Hearing this _monster_ speak in my boyfriend's voice was... well, terrifying.

The Cyclops gave me a crooked grin. He was missing some teeth, and the few that he had were yellow. His breath smelled worse than both the Pegasus stable and the bathrooms and Camp Half-Blood combined.

Laughing, the Cyclops roared, "Pretty lady is funny when you are scared! I like guarding scared people!"

I scowled. "You really have to work on scaring people, if you want to scare a child of Athena herself."

The Cyclops frowned. "Scared lady is not very nice, but I am not allowed to killyou."

I nearly smacked myself for not realizing until now. Medusa may have been a hard monster to trick, but a Cyclops? Even easier than tricking Percy. A plan quickly started forming in my head.

"You're not allowed to kill me? Oh, that's too bad…"

"Why? Why is that too bad?" the Cyclops asked, confused.

"I was just wondering, you were chosen to be my guard, right? Did you get anything in return for this?"

The Cyclops was obviously thinking hard. "No, but the snake lady said that she might let me watch you die if I do a good job! That sounds like fun!"

I tried to look sorry for him. "Only watch? You do all the work and you only get to watch? I don't think that sounds very fair. I think you should at least get to kill me since you're doing all the work. Do you think so?"

The Cyclops's expression got more and more angry. "No!" he shouted. "Not fair! Not fair to Nikator!"

I smiled at him. "Nikator? Is that your name?"

"Yes," he said proudly, holding his head up. "Means 'the conqueror.'"

I nearly laughed at how easy this was going to be. "Well Nicky, wait can I call you Nicky?" After he gave me a nod, I continued. "Well, how about we make this fair?"

He looked at me suspiciously. "Is scared lady going to help me? I nodded eagerly. After considering this for a few more seconds, he finally said, "Okay. Let's make this fair for Nicky, scared lady."

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**So yes the monster was Medusa! Well what do you guys think about this chapter? And by the way, I'll be writing in four demigods' prespectives. Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and another Roman demigod/Nico (2 chapters per demigod and not necessarily in that order). So who should the fourth demigod be, Hazel, Frank, or Nico? Tell me by leaving a review :)**


	5. Author's Note

**Hey guys :) Sorry this isn't another chapter, but I was trying to write chapter 5 and had no idea who's perspective to use! I wrote 3 different versions, one in Percy's POV, one in Jason's, and one in Nico's. I'm going to use all of them eventually, but which one first? Tell me by leaving a review and I'll update tonight or tomorrow!**


	6. Chapter 5

**It was a tie between Nico's and Percy's perspectives... I'll do Nico first, then Percy, then Jason, then back to Annabeth!**

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Nico's POV

_I squinted, trying to identify the monster in the dim light. What I saw was shocking, though I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised. Of course he would end up here._

_"Dr. Thorn?" I nearly fell to my knees sobbing, but I managed to keep standing, using the rocky wall to help balance. _

_The manticore was one of my least favourite monsters. He brought back too many bad memories._

_ "You're running out of time, Nico," a taunting voice whispered. The manticore disappeared and other visions flashed before me. Annabeth. Claws grabbed onto her arm so tightly that they were digging into her arm and drawing blood. Annabeth's eyes were clamped shut and she looked like she was in serious pain. Then I remembered. Her ankle. Oh gods, it must still be broken. _

_I didn't have time to linger on that thought though. Because right before my eyes, Percy lay on the rocky ground unconscious. He was covered in so much blood that I couldn't see where it was coming from. He seemed to be bleeding… well, everywhere. _

_"You see, my boy?" the voice whispered again. "Join us, your quest is doomed to fail." _

_I saw a shadow looming over Percy, but I didn't get the chance to see what it was. The last thing I heard was a booming laugh._

I shot up in bed, hyperventilating. Beads of sweat were running down my face and I was shaking from fear.

Eyes clamped shut, trying to block out the visions Gaea had shown me, I tried to stand up and landed flat on my face.

Confused, I opened my eyes and saw that I was stuck in a blanket cocoon.

I heard a laugh and turned to see Hazel standing at my doorway. "Blankets, they're evil things. Not all that smart to try to fight them, you're bound to lose," she said chuckling.

I blushed, and untangled myself from the blanket. I threw it on the couch where I had slept last night.

There were only eight bedrooms, and the only unoccupied ones were Percy's and Annabeth's. I was offered their rooms, but it seemed wrong to say yes. It was, in a way, accepting that they were gone and weren't coming back. The rooms had to be left unoccupied so that they'll be waiting for Percy and Annabeth when we save them.

_If we save them._

I pushed that thought out of my mind. Hazel stopped laughing and looked at me with concern.

"Nico, are you alright? You've been thrashing and screaming in your sleep. You had a nightmare, didn't you?"

We both knew that demigod dreams were dangerous. They could predict the future or show us what was happening in a completely different part of the world.

"Don't worry, it was just a regular nightmare," I lied, trying to reassure her. I didn't need her worrying about me.

She nodded. Hesitantly, she asked, "Can you feel it? Do you know whether they're alive or not?"

As the children of Hades/Pluto, we could normally tell whether people are alive or not. Hazel and I had spent hours, trying to find out if Percy and Annabeth had survived the fall. But neither of us could feel anything.

I shook my head. "It must be because they're in… you know where."

No one on the Argo II ever said _Tartarus_ anymore. It hurt too much. Instead, it was called _that place_ or _you know where_.

After a long silence, Hazel finally spoke. "We're having breakfast in a few minutes. Come if you're hungry."

She walked out of the room, leaving me with only myself to keep me company.

I didn't mean to, but I started thinking about my dream. I hadn't seen the manticore in four years. Last time I had seen him, Annabeth was kidnapped and was forced to hold up the sky, Bianca joined the hunters, and I found out about my father.

And Bianca was killed.

The manticore was one of the first monsters I saw in Tartarus. That meeting had been the first of many. The manticore had slowly driven me insane.

I allowed myself to do something that, only a few months ago, I never would have done. I allowed myself to do something that I had refused to do in Tartarus.

I dropped to my knees, sobbing.

I cried for Bianca, whose life had been taken from her too soon. I cried for Percy and Annabeth, the closest to friends that I had. And I cried for me.

Brushing the tears from my face, I stood up and walked over to the mirror. The boy that looked back at me had a dark and haunted look in his eyes. His normally pale skin was now completely white, except for the dark bags under his eyes. He looked grim. He looked scared. He looked lost.

Tears streaming again, I slumped down on the couch and clamped my eyes shut. Immediately, I was hit by a wave of memories. My fall to Tartarus. The manticore attacks. The never-ending crowd of monsters, all immortal in Tartarus and all bent on killing me. And for once, I hated being alone.

I opened my eyes, gasping. Ever since I escaped from Tartarus, I've been reliving those events, each time worse than the last.

Distracted by the visions, I nearly missed it. A loud creak, right behind me. I froze, my hands on my sword. Half a second later, I spun around, swinging my sword at my attacker, screaming wildly.

"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE! DON'T KILL ME! GO AWAY! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I vaguely heard my attacker shouting for help. I swung my sword more wildly than ever.

I'd been taught to fight with a sword before, but I had learned that when trying to fight thousands of monsters at the same time, it's best to swing your sword wildly all around you and hoping for the best. You don't have time to do anything else.

Suddenly, my sword flew out of my hands. My attacker had knocked it away from me. Screaming, I started thrashing and kicking anyone who came near.

"NICO!" someone screamed. "Just calm down! It's me, Hazel!"

I stopped attacking. "Hazel?" I whispered. I turned around and saw her golden eyes.

"Nico, are you sure you're okay?" a voice behind me asked. I looked around and was surprised to see that all of the other demigods were there, their weapons drawn.

"I called them here for help," Hazel explained to me. I looked away guiltily. First, I let Percy and Annabeth fall to possible death, and now I attacked my own sister.

"I'm sorry," I managed to choke out. "I thought I was… that I was in Tartarus again."

I heard gasps around me and a sob. Hazel's eyes had grown in surprise. I had said _the word_. I said Tartarus. Not _that place_ or _you know where_. Tartarus.

"It's fine Nico, don't worry about it," Hazel said.

"Hey, at least Coach Hedge was asleep. Who knows what would have happened if he came and saw you screaming at Hazel, 'DON'T KILL ME!'"

It wasn't even funny, but the five other demigods started laughing. Better to laugh than despair, I guess. I tried to laugh too.

"Come on," Jason said. "Let's wake Coach Hedge and get some breakfast." Piper, Leo, Frank, and Hazel all started following Jason to the dining room.

"Uh, if you guys don't mind, I'll meet you there in a few minutes," I said. They all nodded and said that it was fine with them and left.

I sighed, then grabbed my pillow and threw it across the room, angrily. It slammed into the wall.

All the demigods except Hazel were already unsure whether they could trust me or not because I had known about the two camps and didn't tell anyone. Now how were they ever supposed to trust me?

* * *

I trudged down the halls to the dining room. Everyone was trying not to think about what had just happened, but it was clear by their expressions and the way they looked at me that it was on their mind.

Leo broke the silence by clearing his throat. "Well, we're landing on a Greek island soon. I didn't manage to finish all the repairs before we left Lecce because of that hellhound attack, and I've got a feeling we'll need a fully functioning warship."

Everyone nodded their agreement. "When will we be landing?" Jason asked.

Leo looked at his watch. "Right… NOW!" At that moment, everyone heard a big thud and the ship shook as it landed.

Smiling, Leo said, "Welcome to Othonoi, Greece."

* * *

**What do you guys think of this chapter? REVIEW!**


	7. Author's Note II

**I know, another author's note... Sorry if you were expecting another chapter. I promise I'll update tomorrow or the day after.**

**The reason for this author's note is a guest reviewer, LoveByArt. She suggested I give Nico a girlfriend in this fanfic, Veronica. If I do add Veronica, I know exactly what role she's going to play, and it'll be a really big role too! But I don't have much experience with writing, and I'm not sure how good I'll be at writing about a character none of you know about...**

**This is a description of Veronica...**

**Veronica Sage: dark brown hair, grey eyes, tall and skinny with a crystal sword name Anger. Not too girly, but does show her girly side every once in a while.**

**So what do you guys think? Tell me what you vote for in your reviews, Veronica or no Veronica? **

**(If the vote turns out to be no Veronica, I'll write another fanfic about Nico and Veronica for those who want Veronico)**


	8. Chapter 6

Nico's POV

We all ran onto the deck of the Argo II to see the island. We had landed off the coast of a deserted beach. In the distance, I saw some scattered red-roof houses.

Most of Othonoi looked uninhabited. The rocky cliffs to our right towered over us and the cerulean blue waves crashing against it. The rest of the island, as far as I could see, was dominated by trees.

"Guys, I'll finish off the repairs here on the beach. You can go explore or something while I finish."

Piper nodded. "Come on, we can go swimming!"

"But we don't have swimsuits," Hazel said, frowning.

Piper shrugged. "Who cares?" She grabbed Hazel's hand and, with a shriek of excitement, she ran straight into the water.

Frank turned to face me and Jason. "We might as well go too," he said. He ran off the ship to Hazel, with Jason right behind him.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" I said to Leo. I didn't know much about him, other than he's a son of Hephaestus and he always looks like he's had too much coffee.

"No, I'll stay here. Go have fun with the others," he said back to me. Then, chuckling, he added, "I'm not very good with organic life forms anyways."

I gave him a confused look, but he didn't bother explaining. So, I slowly trudged towards the beach.

By the time I got there, everyone was already wet, except Jason and Hazel, who were both refusing to go into the water.

"Come on, Jason," Piper begged. "It's not that bad! Water can be fun!"

"No!" Jason pouted. He stood with his feet firmly planted on the sand. "I'm not going into the water!" A spray of water from a wave splashed on him, causing him to shriek and run further from the beach.

"He's afraid to enter Neptune's realm," Hazel said, causing me to jump and nearly attack her again. I calmed myself before I spoke.

"Yeah, makes sense."

The Big Three, Zeus/Jupiter, Poseidon/Neptune, and Hades/Pluto were brothers, but they often treated each other as enemies. It was dangerous for a child of one of them to enter the realm of another. _Just like how Percy was too scared to fly in a plane…_

"Hazel, I'm going to go on a walk, okay? Maybe explore the town a bit. I'll be back in an hour."

Hazel nodded. She understood I wanted to be alone.

* * *

I walked across the beach, kicking a rock around. _Why did it have to be Percy and Annabeth, why?_ I kicked the rock. _Of all places, why Tartarus?_ Again, I sent the rock flying. _Why do some of the best people in the world have such rotten luck?_ This time, the rock flew into the ocean with a loud splash.

I sighed and looked around me. I was at the opening of a small cave. Curious, I walked in.

The place looked like it was once inhabited, but was abandoned recently. Threadbare blankets were tossed to one side and the ground was littered with candy wrappers and empty water bottles. A shattered picture frame caught my eye.

Picking it up, I saw it was a picture of a family. Four pairs of piercing grey eyes looked up at me. A father, mother, brother, and younger sister.

Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me, but I didn't have enough time to take out my sword. It was too late. A bony arm wrapped around me tightly, nearly choking me, and silver knife pressed against my throat.

"Ποιος είσαι εσύ;" a cold and harsh voice whispered in my ear. "Τι κάνεις εδώ;"

_'Who are you? What are you doing here?' _As a Greek demigod, I could understand what the voice had said. I replied with something extremely brave, like _'Please don't kill me!'_

At first, my attacker did nothing. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, I felt the knife fall from my throat and the grip around me slacken. She walked around so she could see my face. I was met by a pair of piercing grey eyes. Her dark hair was greasy and dirty, knotted with tangles, and she was covered in dirt and grime, but the only thing I noticed were her eyes.

Grey, just like Annabeth's... The feeling of loneliness and guilt hit me full force for the billionth time since Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus.

Distracted by her eyes, it took a while for the realization to hit me. "You're the girl in the picture. The picture over there," I said in English, pointing to the shattered picture frame.

She winced. "You speak English?" she said with a slight British accent. She didn't say anything about the picture.

I nodded. "I'm American," I told her. My mind screamed at me,_ 'Don't trust her! She could be a monster!'_ But I ignored that. "How come you speak English? Aren't you Greek?"

"My father was British. I was raised in London until my mother decided it was time for me to see her home country, Greece."

"You have a brother, right?" I asked her.

She looked at me, confused. "Yes…" she said hesitantly. Her eyes showed confusion. "How do you know?"

"The picture," I replied. "That's your brother in the picture, right?"

I saw a flash of pain in her eyes, but it disappeared so quickly I was pretty sure I had imagined it. "Yes." Her voice had a tone of finality, like she didn't want to talk about this any longer.

Neither of us spoke, unsure of what to say.

"So… what's your name?" I asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Veronica."

I smiled. "Nice name, I'm Nico."

Smiling back, she said, "Nice to meet you Nico."

Veronica and I kept asking each other questions. We never asked any personal questions. Just questions like, "What's your favourite colour?" or "Do you play any sports?" I was careful not to say anything about my family or being a demigod. She was being just as careful, often only giving me one word answers.

"Any hobbies?" Veronica asked.

"Poking dead things with a stick," I replied, causing Veronica to laugh. "Your most embarrassing moment?"

Veronica blushed. "When I still lived in England, I lived in an old house with one of those old fashioned iron gates. Once, I got locked out and I decided to climb over the fence. But then my dress got caught and I was dangling from the fence for hours until my dad got me down!"

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. Groaning, she punched me. Hard. That didn't stop me from laughing though.

"Of course, my dad had to take pictures before he would get me down. Of all days, my mom chose _that_ day to force me to wear a dress!"

That didn't help stop my laughing. Eventually, Veronica joined in laughing. We had just managed to calm down when I saw Hazel's face appear at the entrance of the cave. Her expression was hardened with concern, but softened when she saw me.

"Nico! We've been looking all over for you! You've been gone for hours!" I looked outside and saw the sun setting.

Feeling guilty, I said, "Sorry, I lost track of time."

Hazel nodded. She ran over and wrapped her arms around me. "I was worried something happened to you," she whispered.

I felt even guiltier. We had already lost Percy and Annabeth, and now I had made her think she lost me too.

For the first time since she came, she noticed Veronica. She looked at me for an explanation. Veronica was warily watching us.

"Hazel, this is Veronica. I met her on my walk. Veronica, this is Hazel."

Hazel smiled at her. "Hey! Nice to meet you!"

Veronica merely nodded, looking at her bare feet and biting her lip.

I was about to ask Veronica if she'd like to walk with us to the Argo II when it happened.

A loud _BAM_ shook the cave. The three of us stumbled, trying to catch our balance. But that wasn't as bad as what I heard next. The screams of the other demigods.

Hazel grabbed my arms. "Let's go. Now!" She started dragging me to the ship.

I turned, wanting to see Veronica, at least one last time. At least shout to her over the noise to stay in the cave, where she would be safe. What I saw filled me with dread.

She was running after me.

* * *

**I decided to add Veronica to the story! I'll try to use all the advice reviewers have given me (to not make her completely flawless and stuff). **


	9. Chapter 7

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**Now, back in Tartarus...**

* * *

Percy's POV

I woke up and rubbed my eyes sleepily. I turned to see what time it was. Only problem was my clock wasn't here. Confused, I looked around. I was in a rocky cave. This is definitely _not_ the Poseidon cabin.

This is Tartarus.

My heart sunk as I remembered everything that had happened. We were trapped in the very place that drove Nico nearly insane, where he had just barely managed to escape from.

But my heart rose again when I remembered Annabeth. With her, I felt like I could do anything. I felt invincible, even without the curse of Achilles.

I turned to wake up Annabeth and realized she wasn't there. She must have gotten up already and went exploring or something.

I decided to stay put so she could easily find me again. Bored out of my mind, I started playing with Riptide, uncapping and capping it over and over again with a soft _swish_. My stomach rumbled. Realizing I haven't eaten for at least a day, I started rummaging through Annabeth's backpack, hoping she packed some cheerios for her quest.

I sighed. No cheerios.

I started grabbing everything from the backpack that I had just tossed aside in my hunt for cheerios. I reached for Annabeth's laptop when I realized. I couldn't reach it.

Chains were tied around my wrists, binding me to the rock wall I was leaning against. I squinted at the chains, but it was hard to see in the dim light. Lifting the chains up closer to my eyes, I sighed with relief when I saw that the chains were old. It was possible to cut through them with a sword or knife.

I grabbed Annabeth's knife, which was on the ground beside me and started to cut the chain.

It made loud squeaking and creaking sounds, causing me to wince. I was probably calling out to every monster within a mile radius _I'm here! Please come and eat me!_

It wasn't until a few minutes later when I had completely cut through the chains when I realized. Annabeth would never have gone exploring without her knife.

Panic and fear surged through my body as I broke through the weakened chains.

"Annabeth?" I called out. "Annabeth!"

I ran blindly through Tartarus, weaving around the rocky pillars. I kept screaming Annabeth's name as loud as I possibly could. If any monsters had missed the sound of me cutting through the chains before, they definitely could hear me now.

"Annabeth! Anna-" With a loud _oof!_ I ran straight into a pair of silky Valentine boxers.

I rubbed my head. I must be going crazy. What monster in Tartarus would be wearing boxers covered in pink and red hearts?

I found my eyes rising to see a chest covered in red, pink, and orange hair. My eyes rose even more to see a familiar face.

He had vibrant orange hair. His raised eyebrows and wide eyes made him looked surprised, but he was also pouting and smiling at the same time, which would have been funny, if he wasn't a fire-breathing giant.

"Remember me demigod?" the giant asked.

I racked my brain, trying to remember is name. "Uh, your name… It was like, Cakes or something?"

His smile immediately disappeared and he glared at me. "Cacus! Remember that name demigod. My name is Cacus!"

Annabeth and I had fought Cacus a month after we started dating. He had stolen Hermes's caduceus and the god had made us get it back for him.

"Cakes! Who are you talking to?" called out a voice.

If he looked mad at me before, now he looked absolutely furious. "My name is not Cakes!"

Steam started streaming from his nose. I figured this was a good time to run.

I leaped over piles of rocks and started running, when I realized he wasn't following me. My brain was screaming at me to run away, but my curiosity got the better of me.

"Aren't you going to run after me? You know, to try to kill me and stuff?" I called out, though I would prefer not being killed.

Cacus only smiled. "Go ahead, run. You'll never see your girlfriend again, but you can save yourself."

I felt my anger swelling. "You know where Annabeth is!"

"Come with us, if you want her to live." Cacus smiled gleefully.

My shoulders sagged in defeat. Cacus took out new chains and tied them around my arms. "Good choice demigod!" Cacus bellowed. Then, he started dragging me through Tartarus.

We entered a cave, larger than any of the others I had seen in Tartarus. Inside was a Cyclops playing with some hastily cut chains tied to a rock pillar.

"Nikator!" Cacus screamed at the Cyclops. "Our other captive is being brought to her cage. Go guard her!" Nikator nodded and left. With a start, I realized that this _other captive_ was Annabeth.

"Take me to her!" I screamed at Cacus. "Take me to Annabeth!"

Cacus only laughed. "You'll be seeing your girlfriend sooner than you think. That is, if you cooperate of course."

I bit my lip. Through gritted teeth, I replied, "What do you want me to do?"

"Give me your sword! Once I escape from Tartarus, I can make copies to sell!" Back before he was defeated by Annabeth and me, Cacus would steal knockoffs of things to sell. Sometimes, he would make the knockoffs instead.

A plan started forming in my head. It wasn't a very smart plan, but it was the only thing I could think of.

I slowly took out Riptide. Cacus's already abnormally wide eyes grew even wider. "Show me how it works," he demanded.

"Well, if you uncap the pen, it changes into a sword." I uncapped Riptide and showed him. Cacus bent down closer to admire the sword. Then, I put my plan to action.

With a loud battle cry, I attacked. Slashing and stabbing, using both the Greek and Roman way of fighting, I attacked Cacus with Riptide. At first, my plan seemed to be working. He started crumbling to dust, which is what happens to monsters when they are defeated. Soon, all that was left of Cacus was a pile of dust.

Then, it all started going wrong.

The dust began to gather back together. Cacus started to reform, right before my eyes. "Foolish demigod!" he laughed. "This is Tartarus, where monsters go when they are defeated. Here, I am undefeatable!"

* * *

**You guys remember Cacus from the Demigod Diaries: The Staff of Hermes? Well I decided to add him to this fanfic!**

**Well... REVIEW PLEASE! :)**


	10. Chapter 8

Percy's POV

_Here, I am undefeatable!_ Cacus's words rang inside my head and filled me with dread. I was fighting a losing battle.

I was pretty sure Cacus forgot about the whole 'you'll see your girlfriend if you cooperate' thing now. By trying to attack him, I probably ruined all my chances of escape.

Cacus glared at me. "You shouldn't have done that," he said. Then, watching me hungrily, he shouted, "Demigod for breakfast!" That didn't sound very good.

I racked my brain for a plan. My brain gave me nothing.

"Concentrate," I told myself. "What would Annabeth do if she was here?"

An idea suddenly came to me. Hopefully, it would work better than my first "Attack the Undefeatable Fire-Breathing Giant with Nothing but a Sword" plan.

I figured the only thing I could do was turn Cacus to dust and run before he could reform. I'll find Annabeth and she can figure out what to do next.

With only that as my plan, I gripped onto the hilt of Riptide. Then, I charged.

I'd like to say this plan worked pretty well. Unfortunately, things started going wrong almost immediately.

I charged at Cacus, and I raised Riptide to attack. Focused on trying to hit his knee with my sword, I never noticed his meaty hands until they closed around me. His grasp was so tight, I nearly choked to death.

With just one finger, he flicked Riptide out of my hands. I heard it clattering to the ground as Cacus raised me up. I knew Riptide would reappear in my pocket later on, but that probably wouldn't do me any good. By the looks of it, I probably would already have been turned into demigod enchiladas, or whatever giants eat.

He lifted me up, bashing me into rocky ledges that stuck out of the wall a couple times, probably revenge for turning him into monster dust. In just a few seconds, I was already battered and bloody.

"I caught you, demigod!" Cacus screamed in my ear. His meaty hands grasped onto me, nearly choking me to death. He smiled smugly and tightened his grasp.

I felt my pocket grow slightly heavier. Riptide returned to my pocket. It wouldn't do me any good now though.

"Now, you will-" he was cut off. With a strangled gasp, his grip around me loosened. I felt his hand disappear as I fell to the ground.

I cried out in pain as I hit the rock-hard ground. I felt a surge of pain wash over me and black dots began to dance in my vision.

The last thing I saw before I passed out was a flash of gold and grey.

* * *

**Sorry about the extremely short chapter. I'll add chapter 9 today to make it up to you guys :)**


	11. Chapter 9

Jason's POV

"And then Frank turned into a tadpole!" Piper laughed.

Frank blushed. "I was trying to turn into a shark..." he muttered.

The five of us, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Leo, and I, were all sprawled on the couches and the ground in the lounge, munching on the cookies we had brought from the kitchen.

"So," I said, "what do you guys want to do now?"

Suddenly, Hazel stood up. "I'm going to go look for Nico. He said that he'd be back four hours ago, but he's still not here." Her voice was filled with concern.

"Okay, we'll wait here," I said, nodding. "Don't worry, he's probably fine. Maybe he just lost track of time."

Hazel ran off in search of her brother. Soon, once all the cookies were gone, everyone else started leaving. Eventually, there was only Piper and me left.

I looked down at Piper, who was curled up on the couch leaning against me. "You had fun swimming?"

"I had more fun watching you run away screaming like a little girl," she smirked.

"Hey, not my fault the sea god hates me."

Piper chuckled. She looked like she was going to say something back, but she froze. Her smile disappeared from her face and was replaced by a look of nervousness, and something I rarely saw in her eyes: fear.

"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

"I have something important to tell you," she whispered.

Something about her voice made me reluctant to find out what it is she needed to tell me, but I asked anyways. "What is it?"

She opened her mouth to answer, when the entire ship was pushed, as if something had run into it. The Argo II tilted dangerously to the left, but righted itself.

We looked at each other, confused. "What was that," Piper breathed.

I grabbed her hand. Hoping I sounded more brave than I felt, I said, "Let's go check."

We raced up the stairs, taking multiple steps at a time. At the top, I ran out to see what the problem was and nearly ran into Frank.

"Frank! What's happening?" I asked.

His face looked grim. "The ketea. Sea monsters, children of Keto."

Piper and I ran to the side of the ship and looked overboard. Two serpentine fish were snapping at the boat, showing rows of sharp teeth. One of them leaped out of the water and bit off a chunk of the ship.

"Hey! I just fixed that!" Leo whined.

"Just take off! Land the ship on the beach! We'll get Nico and Hazel and we can leave this place!" Piper screamed.

"I don't think we can take off," Frank said, staring above us. A loud shriek sounded from above. I looked up to see a gigantic bird soaring above the ship.

It had a long bronze beak and metallic feathers. Looking around, I realized I wasn't the only one who had no idea what this bird was.

Suddenly, with a loud shriek, the bird dove down onto the ship. We all leaped apart and drew our weapons.

"I'll take the sea monsters before they do any more damage to the ship!" Frank shouted and dove into the water, turning into a shark halfway.

That left the rest of us with the bird. I looked up just in time to see a sharp metallic feather flying straight at me. I ran off to the side just in time.

I was so caught up with dodging the bird's attacks I barely noticed when something splattered onto the deck. The smell of burning wood filled the air.

"Fire!" Leo shouted. Just then, a splash of water sprayed over the deck. I turned to see Frank wrestling one of the Keteas, spraying the ship with water. It put out the fire at least.

Leo looked down at the burnt wood. "The bird has toxic poo," he said. Any other time, I would have laughed, but now wasn't exactly the best time.

"Jason!" Piper screamed. Something ran into me, and I was knocked down, my head banging onto the floor.

Dazed, I murmured, "What…"

I heard Leo screaming. "Piper!" His voice sounded panicked.

Looking up, I saw the bird flying away. I sighed with relief. The relief didn't last very long though.

In the bird's talons was Piper, unconscious. At least I hoped she was only unconscious.

With a shock, I realized what had happened. The bird had swooped down, trying to catch me. Piper had saved my life.

I forced myself to concentrate. I began to control the air around me. I shot up into the air, when suddenly, a silver knife whizzed past, right above my head.

My head whipped around to see the bird struggling to stay in the sky, blood oozing from wear the knife had struck it. It let out a shriek of pain. And below, Piper was falling.

I dove down towards her. _Please let me catch her, please…_ I prayed in my head.

She was right above the water. _She's going to fall_, I realized. I gathered all my remaining strength and forced the air to push me faster. _Almost there, almost there..._

I felt her fall into my arms. I sighed with relief, and swooped up, flying back to the Argo II.

I saw Frank and Leo waiting for me on the deck. Frank had a few cuts and bruises, but it looked like he easily defeated the sea monsters.

I landed on the deck, stumbling a few steps. I tried not to drop Piper, but I was exhausted after what had happened.

With a thud, her body fell from my arms, causing me to wince. The three of us bent down.

"You think she'll be okay?" I tried to contain my fear.

Frank bit his lip nervously, and said, "We'll see. I'll carry her down to the infirmary and try to do what I can."

After he left, I started pacing the deck anxiously. Leo tried to calm me down.

"Don't worry, she's going to be fine. She was still breathing, right? She's still alive. She'll be fine, don't worry."

I took a deep breath. I had to be brave about this. "You're probably right," I said, trying to sound brave. "So, which one of you threw the knife? It nearly hit me in the head."

Leo looked confused. "Neither of us threw a knife."

"Leo! Jason!" someone screamed from the beach. We looked to see Hazel, jumping up and down, waving her arms like she was trying to catch our attention.

Leo flew the ship to the beach and landed. We stepped out to see Hazel and Nico. Behind them was a girl who looked around thirteen years old.

"Nico, Hazel, which one of you guys threw the knife?" I asked.

The girl stepped forward from behind Nico. "It was me."

* * *

**By the way, the bird was a stymphalian bird from Greek mythology.**

**REVIEW :)**


	12. Chapter 10

**Longest chapter yet! Enjoy! :)**

* * *

Jason's POV

"What was that thing?" the girl asked.

I looked at her, and the first thing I noticed were her eyes. They were grey, like the eyes of the daughter of wisdom. A feeling of guilt crept into me, but I pushed it away.

"What thing? I didn't see anything." I prayed that the Mist was strong, and that all she saw was me chasing a seagull.

"What was that thing?" the girl asked again, her voice more insistent then before. Everyone in the group found a sudden interest in their shoes. Everyone except Leo.

"That depends," he said to her.

Confused, she looked at him. "Depends on what?"

"Depends on what you saw."

She thought a bit before telling us what she saw, as if she couldn't believe what she had just seen herself and was double checking to make sure it was all real.

"An enormous bronze bird that attacked your ship and flew away carrying a girl. The girl was all bloody and looked dead. And you…" she pointed to me, her finger shaking slightly. "You were flying!" She was nearly screaming now and I saw fear in her wild eyes. "You were flying after the bird!"

"No I wasn't," I insisted.

"Yeah!" Leo joined in. "He wasn't flying! He was just… in the air." I glared at him. I was just 'in the air'? What kind of excuse was that? The girl looked more confused than ever.

Nico and Hazel were just rocking back and forth on their feet uncomfortably. I met Nico's eyes and gave him a desperate look, trying to send him a message. _Distract her._

Nico's eyes showed he understood. "G- Guys…" he stuttered, trying to change the topic. "Uh, this is Veronica. I met her a while ago. Veronica, these are my friends, Jason and Leo."

"Hey Veronica," I said to her, flashing a smile. She just nodded uncertainly.

Coach Hedge just had to choose _that_ moment to come.

"Cupcakes! Back on the ship! We've got monsters to kill and the world to save!" he shouted, waving his baseball bat around wildly. I shook my head wildly at him and pointed to Veronica, trying to get him to notice, but he wasn't looking at me. Poor Veronica was turning pale and looked like she was going to faint.

"Your legs!" she screamed. Her eyes were fixed on Coach Hedge's legs. "And monsters to kill? The world to save? You… you're all…" She looked lost for words and she was practically hyperventilating. She looked at each of us, waiting for an explanation.

Coach Hedge finally noticed Veronica. He walked up to her and snapped his fingers. "There's nothing wrong with my legs, and I didn't say anything about monsters or saving the world. Everything's perfectly normal." He was controlling the Mist. I've seen Thalia do it once. She had promised to teach me, but never got the chance.

Veronica looked at him like he was crazy. "Your legs are all furry and… and weird shaped! Are you half sheep or goat or llama or something? And you _did_ say something about monsters or saving the world," Veronica insisted.

She turned to face the rest of us. Pointing to me again, she said, "You flew! I know you did! I saw you flying after that bird! And the ship just flew too!"

Her hand dropped and she looked at the rest of us. "What was that bird? It's not a normal bird, I know for sure. It was all metallic. What's going on?" The fear in her eyes was gone, and now she just looked lost. Her eyes were desperate for an explanation, for us to tell her she wasn't going crazy and assure that all of this was perfectly normal.

Nico just gaped at her. "You can see through the Mist!" At Coach Hedge, he asked, "Does she smell like a demigod?"

Coach Hedge leaned towards her to smell, but Veronica backed away from him. "No! You are _not_ sniffing me. Do you always go around sniffing people?"

She gave Nico a confused look. "What's a demigod?" she asked. Nico suddenly looked like he wished he had stayed silent.

Everyone looked unsure what to do. I sighed and, not knowing what else to do, I said to Veronica, "Come with us onto the ship. We'll explain there."

* * *

We told her the entire story.

Seated around the kitchen table, we explained about the Greek and Roman gods and about being a demigod. We told her about Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, and every other detail about our demigod lives we could think of. We recounted stories of past quests and experiences. Nico and I explained most of this to her, but the other demigods interrupted when we forgot a detail or when they thought of something important to say.

She heard the story of this quest, from the moment Hera/Juno switched me and Percy to us fighting the bird and the keteas. We even told her about Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus, though we were all hesitant to do so.

At first, we were all cautious. I wasn't sure if telling Veronica was the best idea. But telling her made everything seem just slightly easier, like she was taking part of the burden we've all been carrying off our shoulders.

Veronica was silent the entire time. Her face was expressionless, and she wouldn't meet any of us in the eye.

When we finished, we all waited to see what Veronica's reaction would be. Her head was bowed, so her tangled dark hair had fallen forward, blocking her face from my view.

"I know this is a lot to take in," Nico quickly said. "And it's okay if you don't believe us."

For the first time since we came onto the ship, Veronica spoke. "How could I not believe this when it's the only explanation I have? All my life, I've seen monsters. Everyone I told thought I was crazy. _I_ thought I was crazy. But why? How come I can see through the Mist?"

"There are some mortals that can see through the Mist. Either you're one of them or a demigod," I explained.

Coach Hedge sniffed the air and frowned. "Too many demigods in here," he said. "I can't tell if any of that smell is coming from her."

Veronica still looked uncomfortable around him and refused to look at his legs. "Maybe you could smell if you were closer," she said uncertainly.

Coach Hedge strode across the room. He inhaled loudly and announced, "She's completely mortal!"

"No, she's not," a voice said from behind us. I turned and saw Piper. Her cuts were all healed and the only sign that she had been carried off by a gigantic bronze bird was a bruise on her shoulder.

A large smile grew on my face and I ran up to her, enveloping her in a hug. "Don't ever do that to me again," I whispered in her ear, holding onto her tightly.

"But I couldn't let the bird take you. Besides, I wouldn't have been able to fly after you," she whispered back.

With my arms wrapped tightly around Piper and her arms wrapped tightly around me, I had forgotten all about the other demigods until Leo cleared his throat. "Guys? Uh, we're still here…"

Piper blushed, and I'm pretty sure my face was just as red. I led her back to the table. I was followed by Frank, who had just appeared at the door.

Trying to get back on topic, I asked Piper, "What do you mean she's not a mortal?"

"Am I a monster?!" Veronica nearly screamed. Her voice sounded panicked.

"No you're not. Calm down," Piper replied, her voice thick with charmspeak. A calm feeling filled me and I could tell everyone else in the room had grown calm, including Veronica.

I shook myself out of it. "So she's a demigod?" I asked Piper. "Then how come Coach Hedge said she's a mortal?"

"He's probably getting old, his nose isn't working as well as it should be," Leo joked.

Coach Hedge gripped onto his baseball bat and was about to whack him in the head when Piper yelled, "Stop!" Everyone froze.

With a sigh, she said, "I have something important to tell everyone. I was about to tell Jason before we were attacked, but everyone here deserves to know."

Piper took a deep breath and continued. "Last night, Nemesis visited me in my dreams. She said that only Annabeth was supposed to fall into Tartarus. Since Percy fell with her, she said that Leo paid more than the required price for the fortune cookie. She said you would know what that means," she said to Leo, who refused to meet anyone's eyes.

"Because of that," Piper said, "she said she would send us someone to make up for it, to balance everything out. She said she would send us a legacy of Athena, someone with an ancestor who was a child of Athena." Piper's eyes were on Veronica. "I believe that would be you."

Everyone was staring at Veronica, mouths wide open. Veronica's eyes were clamped shut. She rocked back and forth on her chair, muttering something that I couldn't make out.

Piper continued explaining her dream. "Then, Nemesis disappeared and I saw Hera. She showed me a vision of Camp Half-Blood." Her voice shook slightly as she said, "The Romans have arrived. Camp Half-Blood is being destroyed."

I wasn't sure what to think. Piper, Leo, and Nico looked distraught. I supposed I should be too, but I was only confused.

Camp Half-Blood has been my home for months. They accepted me, even after they found out I was Roman. But I was still Roman, shouldn't I be fighting for the Romans? Where do my loyalties lie, Camp Jupiter or Camp Half-Blood?

Piper's voice shook me out of my thoughts. "Hera wants us to choose two of us to go defend Camp Half-Blood."


	13. Chapter 11

**I am so sorry for not updating for so long! I've been busy with school, went to visit my sister in Ontario, and so many other things. But I'm home now! And I'm sorry this chapter isn't the best, it was written on my phone in the car at 3-4 in the morning... Anyway, I decided to write part of this chapter in Percy's POV. And happy Halloween! :)**

**In response to some of the guest reviews...**

**miya: Medusa isn't dead, she's a monster which means she's immortal. She was defeated, so now she's in Tartarus. And Veronica, like I said in my last chapter, is a legacy of Athena, which means she has an ancestor that was a child of Athena. Thanks for reading :)**

**G.C: Thank you so much for all your reviews! I'm glad you like it!**

**Olivia Bohuslav: Thanks! I can't wait for the House of Hades to come out too! And no, I didn't spell grey wrong. "Gray" is just the American way of spelling it. I'm Canadian, so I spell it like "grey".**

**Percybeth4ever: Nico's dream showed him right after he was dropped by Cacus. **

* * *

Annabeth's POV

I strode through the seemingly never ending tunnel. I kept my head up with confidence, trying to ignore that inside, I was shaking from fear. Nicky wanted to take me to his 'special knife' that he insisted he _had_ to use to kill me. My palms were sweaty from the effort of trying to keep calm, and I wiped them on my pants as I listened to Nicky speak.

"I get to kill scared lady! Snake lady can't stop Nicky, I am going to kill scared lady!" His one big brown eye was gleaming.

I sighed. "My name isn't _scared lady_, it's Annabeth."

He looked puzzled. "Anniebef?"

"No, Annabeth."

"Anniebef?"

I forced myself to keep the smile on my face. "Yeah, sure. Anniebef." I kept following him around while he blabbered on about killing me. Tartarus was a huge underground maze, like the labyrinth, but Nicky seemed to know his way around pretty well.

"And snake lady wanted Anniebef to die in Greece! With my brother!" His words cut into my thoughts, and I realized I haven't been paying much attention.

Trying to keep my voice calm, I asked, "Your brother? Son of Poseidon?"

He nodded eagerly. "Poseidon is my daddy!"

A chill ran through my body when I realized what Medusa's plan had been: to kill Percy and me to wake Gaea.

"Do you know where this son of Poseidon is? Snake lady wanted to kill me with him because… uh, it's really important," I said, smiling weakly. He thought about what I said for a while, and I added, "It will make your daddy happy!"

That made his decision for him. He held his head up proudly and said, "Yes! I will make daddy happy! This way to my brother!" He forgot about all about his 'special knife' and turned around, walking in the direction we had just come from.

* * *

We had been walking for what seemed like hours when Nicky disappeared into a cave entrance. I hesitated before entering, trying to figure out the chances this could be a trap, no matter how clueless Nicky was. Nicky's head popped out of the cave.

"Anniebef!" he shouted, waving his arms. "Here Anniebef!"

"I'm coming," I shouted back as I ran up to him.

We were right about to enter, when Nicky broke the silence. "We wait while Cakes shout at my brother."

My eyebrows scrunched up as I went over every Greek monster that I know of. I couldn't think of a single one name Cakes.

Despite what Nicky had said about waiting, I swerved around Nicky and scurried into the cave. I came face to face with Valentine's boxers. "Where have I seen these boxers before..." I muttered softly to myself. I closed my eyes, thinking hard. Suddenly, it hit me. My eyes moved up from the boxer to see the ugly face of a giant. Cacus.

In his grasp was Percy. Neither of them noticed Nicky or me, even though we had been shouting before. Cacus looked like he was squeezing the life out of Percy. His arms were pinned to his side, unable to reach his sword.

"I caught you demigod!" Cacus screamed. He had a wicked smile pasted on his face and he stared at Percy hungrily.

Then, I did something stupid. It was the worst plan I had ever thought of. I kicked Cacus's leg as hard as I could.

It worked. Sort of. Cacus let out a strangled gasp, though my kick couldn't have hurt him. Then, in horror, I watched as Percy fell from his grasp screaming.

"Percy!" I screamed, as I raced towards him, arms outstretched though I knew I wouldn't be able to catch him. In one last desperate attempt, I dove to the ground. I shrieked in pain as Percy fell on me, but with that pain, I felt relief. I had managed to soften his fall, at least a little bit.

I rolled over and stood up. Percy laid unconscious before me, blood pooling around his head. "Percy..." I murmured, as I leaned down and stroked his cheek. I reached in my pocket for some ambrosia when I heard a growl behind me. I turned to see Cacus's glare.

"Demigod!" he shouted. "All I wanted was demigod for breakfast! I-" He was cut off as he was shoved aside by Nicky.

"Anniebef! You lie to Nicky!" he wailed. With a glare, he added, "Now you die!"

He lunged at me and I rolled out of the way, dragging Percy's limp body with me. I grabbed Riptide from his pockets. It would have to do for now.

With a shout, I slashed through Nicky. A shower of dust fell to the ground. I spun around to face Cacus. He had recovered from being pushed aside by Nicky and was charging at me like a bull. I waited until he was close enough, and I slashed Riptide through his leg.

I looked up and noticed Cacus looked relatively calm as he changed to dust. "You can't kill me, demigod," he said. Then, all that was left of him was a pile of dust on the ground.

I turned and saw the dust that had once been Nicky was swirling around. Slowly, I realized what was happening. Defeated monsters go to Tartarus. If a monster was defeated here, it would only return.

I ran over and stomped all over the dust. It stopped reforming, but when I left, it started swirling back up again. Soon, Cacus started reforming too.

I stomped down hard on the dust in frustration. How was I supposed to do this? I couldn't run back and forth stomping on the dust forever.

A thought suddenly came to me. Would all of a monster's dust be needed for it to reform? I looked down at the dust that was all that remained of the two monsters. I bent down and scooped up a handful. I scanned the room for a place where I could put it, mindlessly stomping on the rest of the dust, just in case.

Unable to find anything, I ripped off half the sleeve of the shirt I was wearing. I wrapped it around the dust and tied it tightly.

I stepped back to see if this would stop the dust from reforming. Sure enough, it was still. I stuffed the dust I was holding in my pocket and ran over to Percy.

* * *

Percy's POV

As I struggled into consciousness, the first things I saw were wisps of gold. For a second, I was confused, but Annabeth's features began to sharpen as my eyes adjusted to the dim light, and I realized it was her hair.

Her grey eyes widened when she saw I was awake. "Percy, are you okay?" I managed a small nod, which caused a burning pain in the back of my head. I must have hit my head on something.

Relief filled her face and she leaned back, exhaling. "Thank the gods," she muttered. "I was afraid that you… You were so still… I thought…" Her voice cracked and I noticed she was shivering.

"Are you cold?" I asked her. She shook her head. "So what happened?"

"Medusa trapped me and put me in a cage. I tricked my guard, Nicky the cyclops, into letting me out and he led me to you. He was a bit mad, but," she shrugged. "Well I had to trick him. What else could I have done?"

I gaped at her. "So you came here led by an undefeatable monster that wants to kill you to face another undefeatable monster that wants to kill you? Even without a weapon?" She nodded and stood up.

"Get up Percy. We have to keep moving." She grabbed my hand and pulled me up. "Oh by the way," she said. "Here's Riptide." She tossed me my pen.

"What were you doing with my sword?" I asked.

"Not much, just... oh, you know, saving your life," she said smirking.

I gave her a quick kiss on her cheek. "Thanks for that," I murmured in her ear.

She blushed and her smile slowly grew, but she said, "Come on, we've got to get going before we get hunted down by monsters."

I nodded. "Can you walk?" I asked, remembering her broken ankle. "You should have some more ambrosia, just in case."

The smile died from her lips. She was about to tell me bad news. I braced myself for whatever it was.

"We have only one piece of ambrosia left."

Confused, I started to say, "But I thought we had six!" But I never made it past 'we'. It hit me, she had used our 'emergency ambrosia' to heal me. I felt my cheeks turn red with guilt.

Annabeth looked like she wanted to say something when a burning white light filled the room. I immediately clamped my eyes shut, but I was still temporarily blinded. I opened my eyes to see what had happened.


	14. Chapter 12

**I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING! I've been so busy and I could never find time to write. I promise I'll try my absolute hardest to update more often. I swear I will!**

**To all my American readers, happy Thanksgiving! :)**

* * *

Annabeth's POV

The blinding white light began to fade. I opened my eyes to see a man step towards us.

"Are you a god?" Percy asked, his eyebrows raised in confusion.

The man turned to him with a stony look in his black eyes. "Yes, I am."

Percy and I waited for him to explain, or at least introduce himself. Once he realized the man wasn't going to say anything, he added, "I thought gods never come down here. Who are you? I've never seen you on Olympus before. Are you some minor god?"

The unfeeling look in his eyes disappeared. "A minor god? You think I would be a minor god?!" he shrieked, fire burning in his eyes. Then, as if that rage had never happened, he calmed down and his stony gaze returned. "I am Tartarus, ruler of the dark abyss of eternal punishment."

I leaned back against a rocky pillar and grasped onto a loose rock. Tartarus may be immortal, but if we had to escape from him, I figured a rock in the head wouldn't feel all that good.

Percy still looked confused. "Dark abyss of eternal punishment?" he asked. "You know, you can just call it Tartarus, instead of going with the whole 'dark abyss' thing."

I winced. Tartarus didn't seem like the best person to mess with, especially since we're trapped in his domain. But he merely smiled. "You amuse me, little demigod. Nothing wrong with being a little dramatic."

I realized then that I hadn't said anything yet. "Why are you here?" I asked him, glaring suspiciously. "What do you want with us?

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Daughter of Athena? Yes, your eyes give it away. Are all her children this annoying? This isn't all that wise at all, talking so rudely at a god this powerful."

I breathed in and out, trying and failing to contain my anger. But before I could do anything, Tartarus continued. "Well fine, we might as well get straight to the point. I'm here because I rule this place." He gestured with his arms the vast network of caves and passages around him.

"And I don't want much from you." His eyes glanced over us. "You two, are you strong? Brave? Everything a good demigod should be?"

Percy and I eyed each other, wondering what he wanted. "Uh, I guess so," Percy said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Percy defeated the Titan, Kronos. He retrieved Zeus's lightning bolt when it got stolen. He sailed into the Sea of Monsters and faced the Cyclops Polyphemus. And-"

"Annabeth helped!" Percy shouted, interrupting me. "I couldn't have done any of those things without her." I glared at him, but despite the situation, his words filled me with a proud feeling.

"So you two are powerful," Tartarus mused. "I don't know much about the affairs above ground. Doesn't matter whether I know what happens or not." In a surprisingly bitter tone, he added, "I'm just the jail keeper, who keeps all the monsters that scare the gods' trapped."

Percy noticed the bitterness in his voice too. "Isn't it cool, ruling over this place?"

Tartarus smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. "You make me sound like a king, with a kingdom, a throne, and all the wealth in the world."

"So what do you do down here then?" Percy asked.

"I'll tell you more after. If you pass my test, that is."

"Test?" Percy asked. He slumped back against the rock wall, relaxed. "Don't worry, Annabeth can do this."

Tartarus glared, and both of us shrank back, at least a bit. "No. Both of you have to prove your strength. Your bravery. Show me the hero within you. If not…" he snapped his fingers. Suddenly, we were surrounded by every monster we've ever fought, and more that I've never seen before in my life.

A deafening roar filled my ear. I turned to see the Minotaur in full battle armour. I guess he saw us too, since he charged.

Percy whipped out Riptide and slashed. Riptide transformed from a mere pen to a bronze arc of pure destruction. Meanwhile, I stood off to the side, throwing rocks at monsters, defenseless.

Tartarus snapped his fingers again. Every single monster that had filled the room just a second ago disappeared. "I can destroy you quite easily."

I scanned around the room, looking for an escape. My eyes stopped at the entrance that I had just come through. If Tartarus was distracted, Percy and I could run off.

Tartarus followed my gaze around the room. He clapped his hands and the entrance disappeared.

"Either you agree to take this test, or I leave you two here to die!" he snarled. Facing me, he added, "There is no escape, daughter of wisdom." Before Percy or I could say anything, he vanished.

* * *

**I know, they meet Tartarus in pretty much every single House of Hades fanfic. But it wouldn't make sense for them not to meet him, so might as well get that meeting over with :)**


	15. Chapter 13

**I told you guys I'll try to update more often! I'll try to update once a week from now on. This isn't exactly the most exciting chapter, but enjoy! :)**

**And try reading my new story, the Silver Owl! The story begins with seven year old Annabeth, who lives in a small town in Ancient Greece, until her village is attacked by Greek pirates. She, along with some other children, gets kidnapped. The pirates' plan: sell the children as slaves. Percy, Thalia, and a bunch of other PJO and maybe HoO characters will be in it :)**

* * *

Nico's POV

"Hera wants us to choose two of us to go defend Camp Half-Blood."

Everyone stared at Piper, soaking in the new information. Only two of us could go.

Piper broke the silence. "Hera said to choose two of us by midnight, and she'll send us to camp. Two Greeks should go, since it's our camp. We need to defend it. That means it should be Leo or me. Or Nico, of course," she added quickly.

"I'll go!" Leo said, standing up and pounding the table with his fists. "Show the Romans to stay back in their own camp!"

"Leo, but the ship," Hazel said. "You're the only one that knows how to run the ship."

"True…" Leo slumped back down in his seat. "So, Piper and Nico?"

I couldn't stand the thought of Camp Half Blood getting destroyed while I was stuck here not able to do anything to help. "But I promised…" I muttered. Then, I cleared my throat and said again, "I promised Percy I'll help you guys reach the House of Hades. And I'm keeping that promise. I'm staying here."

"Well I'm not going alone," Piper said. "Hera wanted two demigods."

Jason stood up. "I'll go with you." He walked over and grabbed Piper's hands. "I can't let you go alone," he added, smiling at her.

Piper smiled back at him. "Then it's settled. Jason and I will go defend Camp Half Blood. We'll try to be quick, so we can come back here and help you guys in Greece."

"Okay!" Leo shouted. "Meeting over!" The demigods all began to leave, except Piper and Jason. I decided to give them some space and left to catch up with Veronica.

"Veronica!" I ran up to her. She turned and waved when she saw me. I smiled and said, "You're not freaking about about all this Greek mythology stuff."

"Yeah, it explains a lot of the stuff that happened in my life." she said, laughing weakly. "Why, did you freak out when you found out?"

I laughed. "I'm probably the only demigod that was exited when I found out. All other demigods were more like 'Oh my gods a monster's going to eat me!'"

Veronica chuckled, then said, "So this quest of yours sounds pretty cool. What can I do to help?"

"No!" I shouted, causing Veronica to jump. I calmed myself and added, "Demigod business is dangerous. You can get seriously hurt, or worse, killed! You'll stay here on the island where you'll be safe."

Veronica gaped at me. "Who do you think you are, my mother? You heard what that girl said, I'm a legacy of Athena and I'm supposed to help you demigods on this quest. You can't stop me!"

"But wouldn't it be easier to just forget about all this?" I asked.

"Forget about this?" Veronica shrieked. "Forget about all this?! Do you have any idea what you're saying? All my life, everyone thought I was crazy,_ I_ thought I was crazy, because I was seeing things. I told everyone the island was infested with monsters and they laughed. I'm lucky I wasn't sent to some mental hospital! And all this demigod stuff explains everything that has happened in my life, it's the answer I've been looking for all this time! And you expect me to forget? I-"

"Look, Veronica!" I shouted, interrupting her. "I know I can't expect you to forget about this. But you have no idea how dangerous this quest is. At least think about staying here, okay?"

"Fine." She paused for a moment, then added, "Done thinking. I'm going on this quest." She turned to walk away, when she realized I was just staring at her. "What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing. You're stubborn, you just remind me of someone else I know," I said.

I turned to leave, when Veronica stopped me. "I'm sorry Nico," she said. "I know I can be stubborn sometimes, I'll try to stop. Just please, let me come with you on the quest."

"There's nothing wrong with being stubborn," I said smiling. "Find Hazel, she'll show you around the ship and take to Piper's room. Piper won't mind if you use it while she's gone."

"One more thing," Veronica added quickly. "That picture you were looking at before, can you get it for me? Please? I don't need anything else, I just want to bring that picture with me." Her grey eyes pleaded, and I gave in.

"I'll go get it right now," I told her, turning to leave. The last thing I saw before I left the room was Veronica smiling at me.

* * *

Running to the cave where I found Veronica, I realized how far I must have walked to get there. I must have been walking for hours.

The picture was right where I had left it. I picked it up, careful not to cut myself on the shattered glass. I made a mental note to get Veronica a new, not broken frame later on.

Refusing to look down on the grey eyes that reminded me too much of one of the two demigods I failed to save, I ran back to the Argo II.


	16. Chapter 14

**I'm sorry for all these boring chapters... I promise I'll add more excitement soon. But there's more Veronico in this chapter! And to the guest reviewer that asked, they're not dating yet because most people don't date someone they just met. **

**And try reading Pokemonchen's Subway Experiences 101! It's a series of PJO one shots that have to do with the subway/Subway. So far, there are only 2 (the first written by Pokemonchen, the second written by me), but in the end, there will be 101! If you want to write a one shot for this, just ask Pokemonchen :)**

**Now, on to the story!**

* * *

Nico's POV

I raced down the beach, gripping onto Veronica's picture. The waves, powerful surges of the sea, pounded the beach with a crushing force, spraying me with water. The winds grew stronger and stronger, ripping at the trees. I suddenly wondered if the winds were strong enough to make the trees fall. I would get flattened into a demigod pancake.

I smirked at the thought and kept running. A large rock pile slowly came into view. It was tall, but I just shrugged. I could jump over it. I charged at it full speed and when I was close enough, I leaped.

Of course, I landed flat on my face. I stood up and brushed the sand of myself, somewhat amused by what had just happened. I sat down on the rocks, taking a break. I was panting hard from running for so long and when I sat down, I realized my knees were aching.

On the ground, I saw a faint silver glimmer. I knelt down to get a closer look and realized it was a knife. Veronica's knife. I picked it up, knowing she'd be happy to see it again.

Having nothing to do, I looked to the trees, shaking in the wind. The forest was dark and full of shadows. _Shadows_…

I shook my head. How could I have forgotten? As a child of Hades, I could have shadow traveled back to the Argo II this entire time and avoided the attack of the rocks.

I took a deep breath. I felt like I had just run a whole marathon, which wasn't far from the truth considering how far I had run. Gathering up all the strength I had left in me, I charged at the trees.

* * *

I opened my eyes to see a window, just like the one in the dining room. I smiled, feeling pleased with myself for shadow traveling back to the Argo II not passing out, and fell off the table.

"Whoa Nico!" Hazel said, her arms struggling to hold me up. Slightly embarrassed, I muttered a quick apology. Only then did I realize I was standing in a big bowl of spaghetti. I picked up both my feet to find it was covered in red sauce and noodles.

"I guess we're not having spaghetti for dinner anymore," Leo said. All of the demigods and Coach Hedge were laughing their heads off. Jason was pounding the table so hard with his fist that it was causing the table to shake, making me bounce up and down. Veronica just smiled.

"Here," Veronica said. "I'll help you clean up." She got up and started walking towards the bedrooms. I just stood there on the table watching, until she turned and said, "Aren't you going to come?" I jumped off the table and followed her to Piper's room, leaving behind a trail of noodles and sauce. Everyone else was still too busy laughing.

"So, what was that?" she asked, once we were away from everyone else?

"What was what?"

"You just appeared out of nowhere! One minute there was spaghetti, the next there was you! And still the spaghetti of course," she said.

"Uh..." I thought about how to explain this to her. "Did Hazel tell you who my godly parent is?"

"Hades. God of the Underworld."

"Yeah. Well the children of Hades can do this thing called 'shadow traveling'. It's hard to explain. We use shadows to travel and we can get to anywhere we want." Veronica nodded, looking like she at least understood a bit. Suddenly I remembered something and added, "Oh, and hellhounds can do it too!"

Veronica just stared at me. "Another creature from Greek mytholo- Wait nevermind, I'll just not bother asking..." she said.

"Hey, you better start studying if you're going on this quest with us," I said as she opened the door to Piper's room. "Are you sure Piper would mind me getting spaghetti all over her bedroom floor?" I asked Veronica.

Smiling, she replied, "I'll clean it up later. Just sit down, I'll get something to clean you up with." She ran outside to the washroom, which was just two doors down. I plopped down on Piper's bed.

Piper's room was plain, other than the photographs everywhere. Photos of her and Jason, her and Leo, and sometimes the three of them together dominated the room. A picture of a man, who I assumed was her dad, was in a frame, unlike the others which were taped to the wall. It lay on Piper's bed, and I lay Veronica's picture and knife beside it for her to find.

"Here you go," Veronica said, holding towels soaked with water.

"Thanks." I took them from her and wiped myself clean of spaghetti. Veronica walked over to sit down beside me, nearly sitting down on her knife.

"Stop!" I yelled. Veronica turned to see her knife and photograph on her bed. She gaped at it for so long, I was about to leave, when she threw her arms around me in a hug.

"Thank you Nico, thank you!" she screamed. She jumped up and down in excitement. I stood there shocked, while she turned back to her picture, which she picked up and hugged. She then picked up her knife.

"I didn't think I'd ever see this again," Veronica said. "It was a gift from my brother." Her eyes looked far away, dreaming of her past. I sat there awkwardly, waiting for her to snap out of it. When she finally did, she whispered, "Thank you again. You have no idea how much this means to me." Tears were forming in her eyes, so I decided this was a good time to leave and give her time alone.

"No problem," I said, standing up to leave. "If you ever need help with anything, just ask me."

Just as I was about to close the door behind me, Veronica shouted, "Nico, wait!" I peeked into her room from outside. Veronica was staring at her feet. "Hazel," she continued, her voice lower now, "is she your girlfriend?" She looked up and added, "You don't have to tell if you don't want to."

"Uh, no..." I answered. "She's my half-sister."

Veronica smiled. "Okay then," she said. "You can go have dinner now if you'd like."

* * *

The rest of the evening went by in a blur. We ate the rest of the food that I managed not to step on. Then we just sat around lazily with snacks that were far too sugary, which didn't turn out very well with a group of demigods with ADHD. Soon, everyone was jumping around the lounge screaming and laughing. Even Veronica joined in. Hazel said that it was a miracle that all of Europe didn't hear us. All I had to say was we had quite a lot of cleaning to do the next day.

That night would have been pretty uneventful. It was, until it got to midnight.

"11:59," Leo said, checking his watch. "Aren't you guys supposed to be sent to Camp Half Blood in a minute?" he asked Piper and Jason.

"Yeah," Piper said. "Though I have no idea how Hera's going to send us there."

"Maybe she'll send a chariot with flying cows or something," Leo joked. "Her sacred animal's the cow, right?"

Jason nodded. "I really don't-" Jason's voice got cut off as a bright golden light filled the room. Everyone closed their eyes. It becomes a habit if you're a demigod. If you see a bright light, it's most likely a god who decided to drop in and visit. You don't want your eyes open if that's happening. By the time the light dimmed, Jason and Piper were gone.

"Well," Leo said. "That was cooler than flying cows."


	17. Chapter 15

**Sorry, it might start to take longer to update until after Christmas. I just moved, and my new school is doing completely different stuff than my old school. Plus, I'm taking grade 12 calculus, physics, and Earth and space science. It's fun (yes, I'm a nerd), but way too much homework. Maybe I should have stuck with grade 9 stuff... Plus, I'm performing in the Christmas concert at church. I'm singing (solo and choir), playing violin, flute, and piano (Liebestraum no.3 by Franz Liszt. It's a beautiful song!) Just telling you guys so you know my reasons why it takes me so long to update.**

**I actually like how this chapter turned out... It's not boring like the last chapter at least. Enjoy!**

* * *

Percy's POV

Annabeth, her face flushed with anger, stormed back and forth across the tiny chamber we were trapped in. Her grey eyes were analyzing our surroundings, plotting our escape. Though underneath her anger, I saw something she usually hid: fear.

I sat there and watched until I couldn't take it anymore. "Annabeth," I said. I wasn't really sure what I would have said after. I was just tired of sitting there doing nothing. It didn't matter that I had nothing to say though.

"Stop!" she screamed, saving me from having to come up with something to say. "Don't waste any air," she hissed. She returned to her pacing, stomping around even angrier now.

This place reminded me of someplace else. Hades's cell. They were actually kind of similar. Both were underground airtight dungeons that I got imprisoned in by gods who got a little too mad at me. Maybe Hades and Tartarus were friends and planned for this to happen. Maybe Hades even let Tartarus borrow his dungeon, just so Tartarus could trap me too.

At least this time, I have Annabeth. She's here with me to keep my spirits up, make an escape plan, and tell me not to waste air. Suppressing a smile at that thought, I returned to watching Annabeth.

After what seemed like an eternity of pacing, she slumped down on the ground. With her eyes closed, she said, "I can't think of any other way." She turned to face me and continued. "We're going to run out of air soon. There's no other way. We have to take this test."

"Annabeth," I said, stroking her face. "I can't lose you again." We both knew what I was thinking. What if the test kills one of us?

"We die either way. Either the test kills us or we choke to death in here. But at least with the test, we have a chance at surviving, right? We can do this Percy, I know we can."

Our chances were slim. I knew that and I'm sure Annabeth did too. We've seen how much power Tartarus has and how easily he could have killed us with just a snap of his fingers. I forced a smile on my face though, saying, "I know we can too."

"Now, how are we supposed to do this," Annabeth said. "Uh, Tartarus? We'd like the test please."

Nothing happened. The prison was just as still as it was before.

"Tartarus!" I yelled. "We want to take the test!" Again, nothing happened. Annabeth rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed. "Please?" I added hopefully.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently, making both of us stumble forward. Annabeth caught her balance, and I landed flat on my face. One of the walls shattered apart, spraying rocks and other debris everywhere.

Once the ground was still and the dust in the air cleared, we saw a passageway where the wall had just been. The dim blue light that had lit the rest of Tartarus didn't light the passageway.

I gripped Annabeth's hand. She smiled encouragingly, though she was shaking from fear. "We can do this," she said. I nodded and smiled back, trying to ignore my heart pounding so loudly that even Annabeth could hear.

Together, holding hands and hoping we'll both make it out alive, we stepped into the shadows.

* * *

The shadows seemed to dance around me. I couldn't even see Annabeth, though we were right beside each other. I might as well have been walking with my eyes clamped shut. Annabeth's grip on my hand grew tighter with every passing second.

Slowly, I began to feel a force pulling us apart. At first, it was weak, but it grew stronger and stronger until I couldn't take it anymore. I felt Annabeth's hand slip from mine.

"Annabeth!" I shouted, wrapping my arms around her like I did as we fell to Tartarus. "Stay with me!"

"You're such a Seaweed Brain," I heard her mumble, but she held tightly onto me anyway.

The force grew even more powerful to the point where it felt like there were two big magnets trying to yank us apart. Even Annabeth was struggling to hold on.

"Percy!" she cried as she slipped from my arms. My arms flailed around blindly trying to reach her, but I was being dragged away.

"No, Annabeth! Can you hear me? Annabeth!" I yelled. My voice echoed around, but there was no reply. "Annabeth!" I screamed again desperately. As the stupid force pulled me further backwards, tears streamed down my face. I screamed to Annabeth, to Tartarus, and to no one in particular.

Eventually, I slumped down dejectedly, allowing myself to get dragged away. I lost her again.

* * *

I was too busy moping about losing Annabeth to realize that the force dragging me backwards had disappeared until Tartarus's face popped up right in front of me.

I knew better than to anger a god, but I couldn't help it. "What was that for?" I snapped at him. "I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" I screamed.

Tartarus's face looked like a hologram. It glowed so brightly it hurt after being in the dark. Lucky for me, Tartarus just looked bored.

"Demigod," he said in a monotone voice. "I see you've agreed to take the test."

"Just take me to Annabeth!" I yelled at him.

"Your first test is simple. Find your companion. By the way, I will no longer be going easy on you. I'll send you as many challenges as I please."

I glared at him. "Where is she. Is she hurt? You better not have hurt her!"

"This is a recorded message. If you have any questions, please ask me in person." His face blinked, then disappeared.

I stood up angrily and punched the space where he had been before. "How am I supposed to ask you in person." I yelled. "Am I supposed to go searching for you as well as Annabeth?" Unsurprisingly, there was no reply.

The walls started to glow a dim blue, just as the rest of Tartarus. To my surprise, I was in a small room. The only way out was a closed door.

I shrugged. Gods could do weird things. Maybe Tartarus put up those walls after I got dragged in here. I ran to the door and tugged at the handle. I yanked, pulled, and pushed for hours. I even tried breaking it apart with Riptide. Soon, I was sweating and panting. My arms ached from trying for so long.

I slammed my body into the door. The door shook, and something fell on my face. I picked it off carefully. I could guess what it was from the strong smell, but I had to make sure.

I held it close to the walls so I could use the blue glow to see what it was. I nearly laughed at what I saw. It was a slice of cheese. On it were small etchings.

The engraving on the cheese began to glow and I held it close to see. In ancient Greek, it said,_ Cut me into eight equal slices and use only three cuts. Then the door will open._

I groaned. Seriously? A riddle written on cheese? That's my key to opening the door? Well Tartarus could have told me before I spent all that time slamming into the door.

"It's your only way to find Annabeth," I said to myself. Sighing, I sat down and took out Riptide. On the stone floor, I carved out a circle. "Three cuts," I said, "eight equal pieces."

I worked on the riddle for hours. Frustrated, I slammed my fists against the ground. Though I tried to solve the riddle, my mind kept going back to the cheese.

I haven't eaten the entire time I was in Tartarus. I was thirsty and I was starving. Demigods could last longer without food or water than humans, but I could only last so long. And the cheese smelled so good…

As I lay there, I thought about all the food there was back at Camp Half Blood. So many blue cookies, blue coke, and pizza.

Pizza. Suddenly, a memory came to mind. Once, Annabeth and I had ordered pizza and found it was cut into four pieces. I complained about wanting it cut into eight, making Annabeth laugh. With one cut, she sliced it into eight.

Smiling, I lay the cheese on the ground feeling proud. I, Percy Jackson, had figured out the riddle.

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**Don't worry, Percy and Annabeth won't be separated for long! They'll be back together real soon :) And what do you guys think the answer to the riddle is? **

**Anyway, it's December! What do you guys want this month, whether you celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah... even if the holiday you celebrate isn't even in December. For Christmas, I just want my mom to be happy. She's been going through a hard time recently and I'd do anything to make her smile again.**

**Happy early Christmas, and don't forget to leave a review~**


	18. Chapter 16

**I hope this holiday season has been a good one to all of you and your family. Mine was definitely awesome! Hopefully this chapter makes up for not updating in two weeks, though it's pretty short.**

**Now, on with the story!**

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Percy's POV

I held my breath, fearing I would make a mistake and would be trapped forever. It felt stupid to be afraid of cutting a slice of cheese, but this cheese was the great and mighty cheese of hope or something stupid like that. It was my only hope of finding Annabeth.

Cautiously, I sliced the cheese in half. Then with one slice, I cut both halves in half, making them four equal slices of cheese. Finally, I stacked the quarters on top of each other. I lined up Riptide so that it would be as perfect as I could possibly make it, in case Tartarus was picky about how exact I was with my cutting. I cut the stack of cheese in half.

I held my breath. Slowly, the door began to creak open. "Yeah!" I screamed. "I did it! Eight equal slices. Percy Jackson, you are becoming a genius." Yes, the riddle probably wasn't all that hard. Annabeth could have solved it in a split second, but it was the first riddle I solved without any help. I think I deserved to be at least a bit proud.

I dropped the cheese and raced out while shouting, "Annabeth! Are you here? Can you hear me?" I tried to look for her, but I couldn't. Wherever I was, it was pitch black. My hands groped around blindly, until I grabbed a cold hand.

I screamed and dropped the hand. I heard a snap and the room lit up with an eerie green light. Torches burning with Greek fire were scattered around. I was in a long hall. In front of me stood Tartarus.

"Do you really despise me that much?" he snapped. "Stop glaring, it's rude!"

"Where's Annabeth?" I realized it wasn't a very good idea to scream at a god, but I didn't care at the moment. "What have you done?"

"Calm down. No need to overreact. That girl's doing fine, she's a smart one. Though she's having a hard time finding water. Aren't I so nice, giving you so much information. Good job with the cheese riddle by the way. It was quite amusing watching you trying to solve it." Tartarus was talking so quickly I was having trouble understanding.

"You are in my own little maze. Isn't it wonderful? In here, you'll find food, water, and anything else you could need to survive. Maybe even your girlfriend. Any questions? No? Good." And with that, he snapped his fingers and vanished.

For too long, I stood there gaping at the spot where Tartarus had been standing. It was only when a giant hellhound leaped on me that I snapped out of it.

_This isn't Mrs. O'Leary_, I told myself as I stabbed the hellhound. It disintegrated into a big pile of dust and I ran away before it could reform.

For the next few hours, I stabbed and ran, dodged and ran, sliced through legions of dracaena and ran. I didn't see any food, water, or anything else I could ever need to survive like Tartarus said I would.

Out of breath, I leaned against the wall. More monsters than there was at the Second Olympian War were after me, but even with the ADHD and the threat of the monsters, I needed rest.

For a second, I thought about climbing over the wall. I had always done well on the camp's climbing wall. I ruled out the idea though. I could see the top of the wall and it was only slightly taller than the camp's climbing wall, but this was a slick bronze wall that was impossible to climb.

A large crash behind me made me stand up and keep running. Eventually, I ended up at a dead end. I groaned and turned around. Right where I had been just a few seconds ago was the Minotaur. It sat down, blocking my way out. It didn't seem to notice me yet. It was too preoccupied.

The Minotaur was yanking on a sign around its neck, trying to pull it off. On the sign was a messy and blood-red scribble that read _Defeat me and you will receive water. Love, Tartarus_. Tartarus didn't seem like the type of god that would write _Love_, but I didn't question it. At least the sign went straight to the point.

My plan was to sneak up on the Minotaur and stab it before it even noticed me. Like most of my plans, it didn't work out so well.

No, the Minotaur didn't turn and see me. It was worse than that. The Minotaur stood up and scratched his head, still pondering on how he was supposed to get the sign off. Then, it sat down again, right on top of me.

I bit down hard on my lip, so hard I could taste blood, to keep from screaming. The Minotaur didn't even seem to realize what had happened. I felt my bones getting crushed under its weight.

Riptide, thankfully, was still in my hands. I flicked Riptide upwards, stabbing the Minotaur. It shot up in the air screaming, with Riptide stuck in its furry butt. I kicked Riptide in further. Soon, all that was left of the monster that had been crushing me was dust.

Out of fear the Minotaur would reform and sit on me again, I stomped around in the dust. "Can I have my water now?" I shouted to Tartarus. There was a snap-Tartarus seemed to like snapping his fingers a lot-and a glass of water appeared in my hand.

I gulped down the water. It was lukewarm, but it was the first glass of water I had in days. I was about to throw away the glass after I drank the very last drop of water, but I decided to hold on to it. Who knew, maybe it might turn out to be useful. Quickly, I ran before the Minotaur could reform.

* * *

The torches glowing with Greek fire grew scarcer as I kept running. Whenever I had multiple paths to choose from, I always went right. Right had to be the right choice, right? I had gotten trapped at a couple dead ends. None were as bad as getting sat on by the Minotaur though.

Soon, I was in nearly complete darkness. I passed by a torch and looked forward. I squinted, trying to see as far as I could, but I couldn't even see a faint green glow.

I groaned. My throat burned from running around with only the one glass of water I got for defeating the Minotaur. I hadn't eaten anything since before falling into Tartarus. I even saw blue cookies dancing around me. I chased one around for hours before realizing I was probably hallucinating.

"Annabeth?" I risked yelling one more time. Every time I yelled, monsters tended to swarm towards me. I was exhausted and probably couldn't fight a fly, but I desperately wanted to see Annabeth again. "Can you hear me?"

I waited for a reply, though I knew I was unlikely to get one. I sighed when I was met with silence. I turned around and trudged back to where I had just run from. At least back there, Greek torches lit up my path. I'd rather not blindly run through darkness.

"Percy?" a voice shouted. _Annabeth_. "Percy?"

I spun around. The voice echoed through the darkness. She sounded far away, but she was definitely there. "Annabeth!" I raced down the dark passage with a newfound burst of energy, abandoning the lit up passage I was about to take. "I'm coming Wise Girl! I'm coming!"

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**The next chapter of the House of Hades and my other story, the Silver Owl, will be posted on January 3rd. MY 14TH BIRTHDAY :) The chapters can be my own gift to all of you.**

**What did you guys get this holiday season? I got a bunch of books and I went to see Les Miserables with my friends :) So yeah, pretty good Christmas.**

**Don't forget to leave a review!**


	19. Chapter 17

**WHOO JANUARY 3RD! Yup, I'm 14 years old now :) And happy birthday to ChildOfWisdom too! Yup, we have the same birthday. And happy early birthday to Cadee C, whose birthday is tomorrow! Wow, lots of birthdays... Now, here's that birthday chapter I said I would post today. Enjoy! :)**

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Jason's POV

Getting transported halfway around the world was actually no big deal. One second, we were on the Argo II, and then the next second we weren't. I just blinked and everything around me changed. The sun was starting to set and it looked around 5 in the evening.

Then, I realized where I was. Juno, or Hera to the Greeks, could have sent us anywhere in Camp Half-Blood. The cabins, the Big House, maybe even right on top of Half-Blood Hill. Anywhere the battle was going on.

Instead, Piper and I didn't even get sent into the camp. Half-Blood Hill was way behind us. From what I could hear, the battle was still going on. In front of us was Octavian.

"Fellow Romans, you all battled hard today!" Octavian yelled to the small crowd of Roman soldiers in front of him. He didn't even seem to notice Piper and me. "By tomorrow, the graceus camp will be defeated!" Most of the Romans noticed our sudden appearance and were starting to recover from their confusion. Reyna, looking rather bored, was off to the side leaning on Scipio and watching.

As Octavian blabbered on about courageousness, destruction, and how the Romans were better than the Greeks, the Romans in the crowd started shouting and reaching for their weapons.

"Fourth Cohort, attack!" someone in the crowd yelled. They all charged, weapons raised high.

Octavian was soon stumbling backwards, shouting, "Stop! What are you doing? I demand that you—GAH!" That last part was because he was pushed down and run over by a swarm of angry Romans. I braced myself for the attack, hands clamped around my gladius.

"Stop!" Piper yelled. Her voice was panicked and the charmspeak wasn't as strong, but it still made the Romans pause. "Jason," she whispered, her voice dripping with charmspeak. "You talk to them."

I was bursting with the sudden urge to have a nice, long chat with the Romans. "Hey dude!" I shouted at a random Roman. "What's up?" He looked confused, and Piper shook her head and sighed in exasperation.

The charmspeak was starting to wear off on the Romans. "Uh, attack?" one of them said.

"Yeah," said someone else. "Attack!" They all charged at us again, and Piper, though she wanted to leave charmspeak as a last resort, was getting desperate.

But it wasn't Piper that stopped the attack. "Stop!" someone screamed. All the Romans froze when they heard that voice. "Jason," the voice said. The crowd parted, showing Reyna walking towards us. "You're full of surprise appearances and disappearances, aren't you?" she mused. "You disappeared with no warning nearly a year ago, then appeared on a Greek warship, then left Camp Jupiter in chaos, and now you're back."

"Yeah, I guess," I said.

"Explain your sudden visit, if you don't mind," Reyna said. Octavian started to protest, but Reyna stopped him with just a flick of her hands. Even with Octavian leading the attack on Camp Half-Blood, Reyna still had power over him.

"Juno sent Piper and me here to stop the Roman invasion on Camp Half-Blood. Leo didn't mean to fire on Camp Jupiter. He was possessed by an eidolon. He had no control of his actions."

Camp Jupiter looked suspicious and Octavian was giving us a death glare, but Reyna looked deep in thought.

"How do you know he's telling the truth?" Octavian shrieked at Reyna. "He has no proof! He's lying!"

"I don't know. I have no idea whether he's lying or not, but I can easily find out. Aurum!" Reyna called. "Argentum!" Two automaton dogs, one gold and the other silver, appeared at Reyna's side. Their ruby eyes watched me with their penetrating gazes. "Jason, tell them your story. Keep in mind what happens to liars."

As I retold what I had just said, Camp Jupiter watched expectantly, waiting for me to get torn apart by the dogs. But that didn't happen.

"Jason speaks the truth," Reyna declared. "Aurum and Argentum are never wrong."

I smiled smugly at Octavian, who was fuming and obviously wanted to strangle me and Piper, and maybe Aurum and Argentum as well. The Romans were silent, trying to understand the new information that they were just given.

"One more thing," I added. "Juno chose seven demigods, combining Greeks and Romans, because she wanted us to work together." I grabbed Piper's hand, and said, "The seven of us learned to work together. We all want the same thing, to defeat Gaea. The seven of us learned that Greeks and Romans aren't all that different. We've come here hoping we can show both Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood this. It's possible for us to work together."

All eyes were on Aurum and Argentum. Again, they didn't attack.

"It's true then," someone in the crowd said. "Juno wants us to work with those Greeks." Piper and I waited while the Romans were murmuring to themselves. Some believed what I had said, but others were still doubtful, even with Aurum and Argentum not tearing me to pieces.

When it became clear the murmuring wasn't getting us anywhere, Reyna shouted out, "I believe Jason speaks the truth. I trust Aurum and Argentum. I believe Romans could work with the Greeks as well."

Everyone gaped at Reyna. Finally, someone else spoke. "I believe as well." Shouts of 'I believe' sounded throughout the crowd. Those that were doubtful didn't dare speak. You just don't go against Reyna.

"Well Fourth Cohort, we've got some work to do," said Reyna.

As the Roman legion marched to Camp Half-Blood, Reyna mounted on her pegasus Scipio and rode alongside Piper and me.

"The Romans are fighting in cohorts," she explained to us. "The Fourth Cohort was resting. The other four are out there fighting Camp Half-Blood."

"The Greeks weren't very prepared, were they," Piper said.

"They were expecting us, but yes. They weren't very prepared."

"How's the battle going?" I asked.

"The Romans have more warriors. It seemed like we would win at first. But the Greeks have this weapon, this green thing we've never seen before, that destroys everything. Absolutely everything."

"Greek fire," Piper and I said at the same time.

"Yes, I think that's it." Reyna looked over the heads of the Roman legion at Camp Half-Blood. "Looks like we should hurry up. I don't think the Greeks or the Romans can last much longer."

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**You like? Yeah, I know... I could have made it longer. Sorry about that. Anyway, leave a review! Please? Make this birthday girl happy :)**


	20. PLEASE READ

I know, you guys were all expecting another chapter. I'm really sorry about not updating, I really am. All of you were such amazing readers and I couldn't have asked for more :) This fic got more reviews than any of my others! I can't thank you all enough for that.

You've all been such loyal readers, that I really hate doing this, but I've thought this through a LOT and made my decision. I'm not going to continue this story. I could give you all a million reasons why I'm doing this, but I'm not going to bore you all.

If you guys REALLY want to know what was going to happened next, you could PM me and I'll tell you. I owe you guys that much at least. (Hey, I plan everything I write. I have a plan saved for this story all the way until the end). If there's anyone that would like to continue this, Just PM me or leave a review, and I'll choose someone and tell everyone that was reading this to read yours. Please, just consider it? I hate leaving you all not knowing what happens next and I feel so bad about doing this.

And in case you're one of those awesome people reading my other story, _the Silver Owl_, and my one shots in _Definition of Percabeth_, I will be continuing those two. _The Silver Owl_ will be updated sometime this weekend or Monday.

To those people asking for more Veronico, I might make a Veronico one shot or something. I don't know, depends on if you want more Veronico or not.

I have to thank you all again for being such wonderful readers, and again, I'm really sorry to those who were expecting an update.

_~Kiara (pipermclean-beautyqueen)_


	21. What happens next?

Again, I have to apologize for discontinuing this story. I feel so bad about doing this, but I have no other choice. PLEASE, can anyone continue this? You can use some of the ideas I'm posting here. I don't mind. I just REALLY want someone to continue this for me.

Some of you are asking why I'm not continuing this. I'll tell you as much as I can, but most of my reasons I can't tell. I already told a couple people that the House of Hades was an easy way to start off on fanfiction, as Riordan already came up with a lot of the plot and everything. But that's not the stuff I like to write. The Silver Owl, my other story, has my own original plot. The characters are the only things I didn't make up myself. That's the type of writing I like to do. Also, my dad and older siblings died recently. It's been pretty hard on my mom, and I ended up having to get a couple jobs to help out. I barely have time for the Silver Owl (I will keep updating it though. I love writing that story).

The first half of this note is what happens in the chapters in Jason and Nico's POV, the second half is what happens in Percy and Annabeth's POV. I know some parts aren't all that specific, since I hadn't decided exactly what would happen. The part at the end is when they close the two Doors. I had it written out, but I can't find it. If you don't understand anything in the notes, just ask. I wasn't sure if I should include all the little notes I made for myself. I added them just in case they'll help whoever continues this. _If_ someone continues this, that is. They're the stuff that are bolded, italicized, and in capital letters.

Just warning you, some parts of this can be pretty disorganized.

* * *

Percy: PJ

Annabeth: A

Frank: F

Hazel: H

Leo: L

Piper: PM

Jason: J

Nico: N

Reyna: R

Octavian: O

Camp Half Blood: CHB

Argo II: A2

House of Hades: HoH

I think all that should be pretty obvious.

* * *

**Jason, Nico**

R knocks J to the ground as soon as they enter CHB, saving him from Greek fire launched toward him

PM reminds J of the time she saved him from the Stymphian birds and remarks on how he always needs to be saved by the girls

In desperation, PM uses charmspeak to pause the battle for a while J and R try to prove to Romans with the truth dogs that they should work with the Greeks, stop the battle, etc

O comes and tries to continue battle

R has more power than O as praetor and has proof (Aurum and Argentum) to back her up

Hera/Juno appears, confirmed what they said, sends J and PM back to A2, saying she can take it from there, though Zeus wouldn't be too happy about that

Appears back on A2

N tells them L figured out location of HoH: Necromanteion in Epirus, Greece. **_RESEARCH_**

Now that they have J and PM, they set off to Epirus

Monsters they fight along the way: Sphinx (Greek Sphinx: winged, flying creature), drakon **_TYPE OF DRAKON? FIND MORE MONSTERS/CHALLENGES_**

Arrive at ruins of Necromanteion. Start exploring tunnels, but find nothing

Night arrives and they couldn't find anything. They sleep outside of the temple.

Hephaestus visits L in dreams. **_SWITCH TO L'S POV?_ Tells L to use his powers to use his powers to help start off search to doors.**

L wakes up and thinks about his dream. Decides to play around with fire, remembering he was told to use his powersAccidentally sets temple on fire. Wakes everyone to put out the fire, but temple and much of the land around them burned completely. **POSSIBLY SECOND LINE OF PROPHECY?**

Everyone mad at L until PM notices entrance on ground where temple used to be. Everyone thinks it's one of the doors, but L remembers what his dad said (start off search to the doors). Travel through underground passages

* * *

**Annabeth, Percy**

A recaptured by Medusa, hears PJ calling for her

Medusa tells her a huge crowd of monsters are surrounding him and if she doesn't lure him toward her, she'll send the signal to attack him

A knows without curse of Achilles, he would die. Having no other choice, she responds to his calls

Right before PJ arrives, A screams at him to close his eyes, warning him about Medusa

PJ gets angry at Medusa and accidentally causes an earthquake

Entire section of Tartarus's maze collapses, crushing Medusa who was reforming again and again under the debris only to get 'killed' by the crushing weight of the maze on top of her every time

PJ finds A's body crushed and gives her the last bit of ambrosia he found in her pocket

Slowly, she starts to recover, but remains weak. Needs more ambrosia

A noticed that some walls were made of bronze. Tartarus was surrounded by wall of bronze. Wonders if maze is a border that surrounds Tartarus. If the maze was a border and the door was at the edge of Tartarus, the maze could take them to the door

**_TARTARUS'S LAST TEST_**(this was supposed to be something pretty hard that would take quite a couple chapters. I had a couple ideas of what this could be, but haven't decided which one yet.)

* * *

**Closing the Doors: Epirus Side**

My notes for this is a mess... Even I can't understand most of it, since I just scribbled it down it in the dark at 4 in the morning. Basically, they wait as long as they dare, since Percy/Annabeth have to escape first. When they don't see them coming, they have to choose: close the door or risk everything to save their friends. Veronica, feeling like she had been a burden the entire time since she couldn't fight, jumped through the Door. She knew she could find out if Percy and Annabeth were there or not and no one was paying attention to her. What she didn't know though, was that Nico was watching. (Keep in mind this is after a whole bunch of random Veronico moments) They had grown... well... _close_ during the quest. You guys can guess what Nico did, can't you. Leo closes the door at the end.

* * *

**Closing the Doors: Tartarus Side**

-monsters were scrambling and shoving through the crowds, trying to escape from Tartarus

-surrounded by monsters that they can't defeat since they're in Tartarus

-Percy tells Annabeth to go through the door and climb up to Greece and he'll hold off the monsters until she's gone and then close the door

-Annabeth refuses to leave and reminds Percy of what he had said to her in chapter one, that he couldn't lose her again. Annabeth says that she cant lose him again (months where he was in Camp Jupiter and when they were kidnapped and separated). She'll stay with him and they'll close the door together (feeling guilty that Percy wouldn't be in Tartarus if it wasn't for her and now she was making him stay)

NOTE: THIS WAS NINE DAYS AFTER THE DEMIGODS ON THE ARGO II ARRIVED AT THE OTHER DOOR.

-They see Veronica and have no idea who she is. She tells them to hurry up and climb up to Epirus and she'll close the door. Then they see Nico falling towards them.

I already wrote out this overly dramatic part where Percy and Annabeth were both like "NO! WE ARE NOT LEAVING YOU." and Nico and Veronica were like "NO! WE STAY, YOU GO." And at the end, they're like "The four of us together are stronger than just two. We're all staying." And together, they close the door. I would post that, but I can't find it...

Anyway, no they do not escape from Tartarus. I was CONSIDERING writing the next book, where they do escape, but I don't think I'm going to.

* * *

One more thing. I had a couple Veronico moments that I already wrote, including what happened to Veronica's family. I can combine them all and post a Veronico one shot on stuff that happened to them in the House of Hades. What do you guys think about that?


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